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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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  24. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. court — of a king
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. cold — not warm
  6. game — a match
  7. rash — hasty
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. deal — to handle
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. court — of law
  12. can — a tin
  13. court — for sport
  14. can — to be able to
  15. rash — a series
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. cold — an illness
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. game — wild animals
  21. bark — to shout
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. can — a tin
  24. deal — an agreement

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