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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 120 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. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. When was this ________________ built?

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. pop — soda
  3. net — after costs
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. temple — side of the head
  6. prune — to trim
  7. court — of law
  8. pop — to visit
  9. file — a line of people
  10. net — in sport
  11. file — a tool
  12. file — a document
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. net — for catching
  16. prune — to trim
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. swing — to play on
  20. pop — music
  21. court — of a king
  22. swing — music
  23. swing — in golf
  24. temple — a place of worship

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