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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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. spring — a coil
  3. foot — part of the body
  4. spring — of water
  5. last — finally
  6. last — to go on
  7. wound — an injury
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. scale — size or range
  10. bark — to shout
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. foot — a measure
  15. court — of law
  16. spring — the season
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. foot — the bottom
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. court — of a king
  22. wound — an injury
  23. last — final
  24. scale — in music

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