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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. court — of law
  4. court — for sport
  5. ball — a great time
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. pop — soda
  8. spring — the season
  9. bark — to shout
  10. rule — government
  11. rule — a law
  12. court — of a king
  13. mine — for digging
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. spring — of water
  16. pop — to visit
  17. row — a line
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. pop — music
  22. spring — a coil
  23. ball — a dance
  24. row — to paddle

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