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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  16. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cold — not warm
  4. track — a path
  5. court — of law
  6. squash — the sport
  7. clip — a video
  8. chair — a leader
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. bank — for money
  11. track — a song
  12. cell — in biology
  13. cold — an illness
  14. track — to keep track
  15. bank — for money
  16. bank — of a river
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. clip — to cut
  20. clip — for paper
  21. cell — a phone
  22. court — of a king
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. squash — to crush

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