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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 always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. content — happy
  5. court — of a king
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. court — for sport
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. race — humankind
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. prune — to trim
  12. bear — the animal
  13. court — of law
  14. content — the amount
  15. prune — to trim
  16. bat — the animal
  17. race — the arms race
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. bear — the animal
  23. race — a contest
  24. content — videos and posts

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