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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. court — for sport
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. net — for catching
  5. drill — a practice
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. net — after costs
  8. spring — the season
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. drill — the tool
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. drill — army training
  13. rash — hasty
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. content — the amount
  17. court — of a king
  18. content — happy
  19. spring — of water
  20. rash — a series
  21. cabinet — a cupboard
  22. net — in sport
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. spring — a coil

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