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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 116 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 had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. club — for golf
  3. kid — to tease
  4. present — there
  5. spring — of water
  6. scale — in music
  7. court — for sport
  8. present — the time now
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. court — of law
  11. spring — a coil
  12. court — of a king
  13. club — for dancing
  14. present — a gift
  15. bark — to shout
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. club — a group
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. scale — size or range
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. spring — the season
  24. bat — the animal

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