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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. court — for sport
  3. march — the month
  4. rash — hasty
  5. march — music
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. wind — moving air
  8. game — a match
  9. track — a path
  10. rash — a series
  11. march — the month
  12. track — to keep track
  13. court — of law
  14. game — wild animals
  15. track — a song
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. wind — moving air
  19. ball — a dance
  20. court — of a king
  21. bear — the animal
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. bear — the animal
  24. ball — a round shape

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