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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. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. last — final
  4. cell — in biology
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. last — to go on
  7. court — for sport
  8. chip — for betting
  9. cell — a phone
  10. court — of law
  11. mine — for digging
  12. last — finally
  13. swing — to play on
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. swing — music
  17. swing — in golf
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. cold — not warm
  22. chip — to eat
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. mine — an explosive

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