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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 King held a masked ________________.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. spell — magic
  3. object — an aim
  4. chest — of your body
  5. spell — letters
  6. mouse — for a computer
  7. chest — of your body
  8. chest — a box
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. field — a subject
  12. scale — in music
  13. field — farmland
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. spell — a short time
  16. shower — to wash
  17. shower — rain
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. field — for sport
  21. object — a thing
  22. ball — a great time
  23. object — to protest
  24. scale — size or range

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