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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 120 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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  18. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. chest — of your body
  3. land — to come down
  4. spring — a coil
  5. land — ground
  6. snap — to click
  7. current — electric
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. spring — the season
  11. chip — for betting
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. court — of law
  14. current — happening now
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. current — of water
  18. chip — to eat
  19. chest — a box
  20. chest — of your body
  21. land — a country
  22. spring — of water
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. court — for sport

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