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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. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. I can't ________________ this cold.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. stand — for spectators
  3. court — of a king
  4. last — to go on
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. ground — a position
  7. last — final
  8. scale — size or range
  9. saw — the tool
  10. cap — a lid
  11. cap — of ice
  12. cap — a hat
  13. clip — to cut
  14. saw — the tool
  15. clip — for paper
  16. clip — a video
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. last — finally
  19. stand — to bear
  20. ground — crushed
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. scale — in music
  23. court — of law
  24. ground — the earth

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