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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. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. game — a match
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. club — a group
  5. court — of law
  6. club — for dancing
  7. tube — the underground
  8. date — the fruit
  9. court — of a king
  10. court — for sport
  11. toast — bread
  12. scale — size or range
  13. field — for sport
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. field — farmland
  16. tube — a container
  17. scale — in music
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. toast — a drink to someone
  21. field — a subject
  22. club — for golf
  23. game — wild animals
  24. date — on the calendar

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