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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. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. bear — the animal
  7. spring — the season
  8. club — a group
  9. spring — a coil
  10. perch — the fish
  11. court — of a king
  12. cold — not warm
  13. court — of law
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. club — for dancing
  17. mate — a partner
  18. content — happy
  19. mate — a friend
  20. mate — to breed
  21. content — the amount
  22. court — for sport
  23. spring — of water
  24. bear — the animal

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