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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 120 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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Where did you ________________ them?
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  19. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. mug — to rob
  4. tube — the underground
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. cell — a phone
  7. court — for sport
  8. court — of law
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. tube — a container
  12. mug — a face
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. mug — a cup
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. rash — a series
  18. cue — a signal
  19. cue — a hint
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cue — for pool
  22. rash — hasty
  23. cell — in biology
  24. pitcher — a jug

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