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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. ball — a dance
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — an illness
  6. rash — hasty
  7. court — for sport
  8. ball — a great time
  9. chest — of your body
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. kick — in football
  13. chest — of your body
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. cap — of ice
  16. cell — in biology
  17. cap — a lid
  18. rash — a series
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. cell — a phone
  21. cap — a hat
  22. court — of a king
  23. cold — not warm
  24. chest — a box

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