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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. False peace will not ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  6. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. last — to go on
  3. net — in sport
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. toast — bread
  6. deal — an agreement
  7. stock — goods
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. net — after costs
  10. cold — not warm
  11. toast — the most admired
  12. stock — shares
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wind — moving air
  15. cold — an illness
  16. last — finally
  17. toast — a drink to someone
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. court — for sport
  20. court — of law
  21. deal — to handle
  22. net — for catching
  23. deal — a big deal
  24. last — final

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