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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  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. cell — a phone
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. court — of law
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. stock — shares
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. mine — for digging
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. cell — in biology
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. stock — goods
  23. patient — a sick person
  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