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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. court — of a king
  4. chip — to eat
  5. pop — to visit
  6. chip — in a computer
  7. march — music
  8. chest — a box
  9. court — of law
  10. file — a line of people
  11. march — the month
  12. cold — not warm
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. court — for sport
  15. chip — for betting
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. pop — music
  18. mine — for digging
  19. chest — of your body
  20. cold — an illness
  21. pop — soda
  22. file — a tool
  23. chest — of your body
  24. file — a document

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