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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. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. I can't ________________ this cold.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. stand — for spectators
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. court — of a king
  4. season — of the year
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. court — for sport
  7. race — humankind
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. court — of law
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. tear — from crying
  12. kid — to tease
  13. kid — child
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. tear — to rip
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. season — in sport
  19. tear — from crying
  20. race — the arms race
  21. stand — to bear
  22. race — a contest
  23. cell — in biology
  24. cell — a phone

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