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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 116 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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. pitch — completely
  3. cell — a phone
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. spell — letters
  6. land — a country
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. spell — a short time
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. court — for sport
  12. spell — magic
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. cell — in biology
  16. court — of a king
  17. stock — shares
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. stock — goods
  20. chair — a leader
  21. court — of law
  22. land — to come down
  23. land — ground
  24. cell — in a prison

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