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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. pop — to visit
  3. land — to come down
  4. chest — a box
  5. court — of a king
  6. scale — in music
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. court — for sport
  9. cue — a signal
  10. cue — for pool
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. pop — soda
  13. court — of law
  14. degree — temperature
  15. chest — of your body
  16. land — ground
  17. land — a country
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. cue — a hint
  20. degree — an amount
  21. mine — for digging
  22. scale — size or range
  23. degree — from a university
  24. pop — music

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