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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. court — of a king
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. game — wild animals
  5. cap — of ice
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. cap — a lid
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. date — the fruit
  13. cap — a hat
  14. game — a match
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. roll — a cake
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. court — for sport
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. roll — a list
  24. court — of law

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