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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. content — happy
  4. court — of a king
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. race — humankind
  8. swing — to play on
  9. tube — the underground
  10. swing — music
  11. court — for sport
  12. race — the arms race
  13. tube — a container
  14. mark — a grade
  15. swing — in golf
  16. mark — a trace
  17. bark — to shout
  18. content — the amount
  19. court — of law
  20. race — a contest
  21. pit — a hole
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. pit — in a race
  24. tube — in a tire

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