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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. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. drill — a practice
  3. squash — to crush
  4. squash — the sport
  5. court — of a king
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. tear — to rip
  9. file — a tool
  10. tear — from crying
  11. game — a match
  12. press — to push
  13. swing — to play on
  14. court — of law
  15. drill — the tool
  16. file — a document
  17. game — wild animals
  18. file — a line of people
  19. tear — from crying
  20. swing — music
  21. drill — army training
  22. swing — in golf
  23. press — a publisher
  24. press — newspapers

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