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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. My mare is ________________ in color.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. bear — the animal
  4. game — a match
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. game — wild animals
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. bay — a part of the sea
  10. bark — to shout
  11. mine — for digging
  12. cold — an illness
  13. bear — the animal
  14. bay — a horse colour
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. bay — to keep at bay
  18. clip — to cut
  19. clip — a video
  20. court — of a king
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. clip — for paper
  23. cold — not warm
  24. court — of law

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