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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. game — a match
  3. stem — to come from
  4. game — wild animals
  5. race — a contest
  6. race — humankind
  7. fall — to drop
  8. drill — a practice
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. drill — the tool
  12. spring — the season
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. court — of law
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. spring — a coil
  17. fall — the season
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. spring — of water
  20. drill — army training
  21. fall — to drop
  22. race — the arms race
  23. bat — the animal
  24. court — of a king

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com