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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. track — to keep track
  4. court — for sport
  5. foot — the bottom
  6. wound — an injury
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. cold — not warm
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. wound — an injury
  13. spell — magic
  14. track — a song
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. spell — a short time
  17. track — a path
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. foot — a measure
  20. spell — letters
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. cold — an illness
  23. court — of a king
  24. court — of law

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