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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. court — for sport
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. foot — the bottom
  6. court — of a king
  7. foot — a measure
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. file — a tool
  10. foot — part of the body
  11. game — wild animals
  12. file — a document
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. march — the month
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. cold — an illness
  18. march — music
  19. file — a line of people
  20. court — of law
  21. cold — not warm
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. game — a match
  24. snap — to click

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