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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 girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. I can't ________________ this cold.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. row — a line
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. snap — to click
  5. stand — for spectators
  6. net — in sport
  7. row — to paddle
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. lean — to bend
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — not warm
  12. net — after costs
  13. court — of law
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. lean — thin
  22. net — for catching
  23. stand — to bear
  24. court — for sport

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