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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. court — for sport
  3. scale — size or range
  4. press — a publisher
  5. tear — from crying
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. tear — to rip
  9. tear — from crying
  10. kid — child
  11. press — to push
  12. drill — a practice
  13. track — a song
  14. scale — in music
  15. drill — army training
  16. track — to keep track
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. court — of law
  21. press — newspapers
  22. kid — to tease
  23. track — a path
  24. drill — the tool

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