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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. court — of a king
  3. cell — a phone
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. court — of law
  7. row — to paddle
  8. land — ground
  9. cue — for pool
  10. cue — a signal
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. court — for sport
  13. field — for sport
  14. pit — a hole
  15. row — a line
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. field — farmland
  19. land — to come down
  20. cue — a hint
  21. field — a subject
  22. pit — in a race
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cell — in biology

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