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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. court — of a king
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. capital — a city
  5. content — the amount
  6. prune — to trim
  7. season — of the year
  8. prune — to trim
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. kid — to tease
  11. content — happy
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. cold — not warm
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. season — in sport
  16. court — for sport
  17. cold — an illness
  18. last — finally
  19. capital — money
  20. last — final
  21. court — of law
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. kid — child
  24. capital — a big letter

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