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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 124 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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. cold — not warm
  3. pitch — completely
  4. cue — for pool
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. chest — of your body
  7. court — for sport
  8. cue — a signal
  9. cold — an illness
  10. chest — of your body
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. roll — a cake
  14. roll — a list
  15. squash — the sport
  16. cue — a hint
  17. squash — to crush
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. chest — a box
  22. bat — the animal
  23. court — of law
  24. roll — on a roll

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