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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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  19. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  23. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  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. court — for sport
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. fine — all right
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. fine — high quality
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. object — to protest
  9. mine — for digging
  10. rash — hasty
  11. shower — to wash
  12. rash — a series
  13. shower — rain
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. object — a thing
  16. object — an aim
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. can — a tin
  19. fine — a penalty
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. court — of law
  22. can — a tin
  23. can — to be able to
  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