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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. scale — size or range
  3. deal — a big deal
  4. court — of a king
  5. present — the time now
  6. fine — all right
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. band — a ring
  9. band — a music group
  10. present — a gift
  11. swing — to play on
  12. deal — to handle
  13. scale — in music
  14. court — of law
  15. cold — not warm
  16. swing — music
  17. fine — high quality
  18. cold — an illness
  19. present — there
  20. deal — an agreement
  21. swing — in golf
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. fine — a penalty

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