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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  6. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. Recycle the empty soda ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. ball — a great time
  3. capital — money
  4. press — to push
  5. can — to be able to
  6. can — a tin
  7. rest — a break
  8. spring — the season
  9. rest — what's left
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. capital — a city
  12. rest — what's left
  13. court — of law
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. press — a publisher
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. court — for sport
  19. spring — a coil
  20. ball — a dance
  21. spring — of water
  22. bat — the animal
  23. press — newspapers
  24. can — a tin

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