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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. When will it ________________ you to start?
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. cap — of ice
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. game — a match
  5. suit — to fit
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. suit — clothes
  8. field — a subject
  9. field — for sport
  10. cap — a hat
  11. game — wild animals
  12. court — of a king
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. court — for sport
  15. cap — a lid
  16. file — a tool
  17. field — farmland
  18. court — of law
  19. sharp — clever
  20. bass — the fish
  21. suit — in cards
  22. bass — low music
  23. file — a line of people
  24. file — a document

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