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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. I don't want to ________________ the boat.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. court — of law
  3. race — humankind
  4. bat — the animal
  5. court — of a king
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. race — the arms race
  9. court — for sport
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. ground — the earth
  14. roll — a cake
  15. rock — a stone
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. ground — a position
  18. roll — a list
  19. wake — a trail
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. ground — crushed
  23. race — a contest
  24. rock — to move gently

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