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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 locked up in a ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. court — of a king
  3. drill — a practice
  4. court — of law
  5. kid — child
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. row — a line
  8. kid — to tease
  9. drill — the tool
  10. swing — to play on
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. snap — to click
  13. drill — army training
  14. row — to paddle
  15. cell — in biology
  16. cell — a phone
  17. court — for sport
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. bat — the animal
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. swing — in golf
  23. swing — music
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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