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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 ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. kid — child
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. shower — to wash
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. band — a ring
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. rule — a law
  9. rule — government
  10. wave — a sudden rise
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. court — of a king
  14. court — for sport
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. mine — for digging
  18. kid — to tease
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. shower — rain
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. band — a music group
  24. wave — of the sea

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