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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 116 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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  21. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. shower — to wash
  3. court — of law
  4. court — of a king
  5. saw — the tool
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. cell — a phone
  9. safe — a strongbox
  10. file — a line of people
  11. saw — the tool
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. vault — in gymnastics
  15. vault — a safe
  16. file — a document
  17. shower — rain
  18. file — a tool
  19. cell — in biology
  20. safe — out of danger
  21. safe — out of danger
  22. cold — not warm
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. cold — an illness

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