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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. court — of law
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. leaves — of a tree
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. file — a tool
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. staff — employees
  11. leaves — lets stay
  12. cold — an illness
  13. file — a line of people
  14. staff — a stick
  15. court — for sport
  16. fork — in a road
  17. staff — employees
  18. track — to keep track
  19. file — a document
  20. track — a path
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. cold — not warm
  24. court — of a king

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