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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. net — in sport
  4. net — after costs
  5. spring — a coil
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. stem — to come from
  8. fall — the season
  9. court — of law
  10. fall — to drop
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. net — for catching
  14. spring — the season
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. spring — of water
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. court — of a king
  19. fall — to drop
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. snap — to click
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. straw — dry grass

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