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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 120 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 water is too ________________.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. I can't ________________ this cold.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. pit — a hole
  3. cold — an illness
  4. court — of law
  5. spring — the season
  6. court — for sport
  7. staff — employees
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. staff — employees
  10. court — of a king
  11. spring — a coil
  12. stand — for spectators
  13. bat — the animal
  14. pit — in a race
  15. bound — tied together
  16. stand — on your feet
  17. bound — certain
  18. bound — obliged
  19. staff — a stick
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. spring — of water
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. stand — to bear
  24. bat — for 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