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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. This piece is in a major ________________.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I can't ________________ this cold.

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. stand — on your feet
  4. court — for sport
  5. pop — soda
  6. key — for a lock
  7. pop — music
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. file — a document
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. pop — to visit
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. key — in music
  15. file — a line of people
  16. court — of law
  17. key — the most important part
  18. wind — moving air
  19. wind — moving air
  20. kick — in football
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. file — a tool
  23. cold — an illness
  24. stand — to bear

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