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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. tube — the underground
  4. chest — a box
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. tube — a container
  8. prune — to trim
  9. prune — to trim
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. race — a contest
  12. court — of law
  13. race — humankind
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. snap — to click
  17. chest — of your body
  18. rush — hurry
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. race — the arms race
  21. court — of a king
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. chest — of your body
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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