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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. court — of a king
  3. foot — the bottom
  4. cold — an illness
  5. court — for sport
  6. land — a country
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. hand — help
  9. land — ground
  10. foot — part of the body
  11. cold — not warm
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. foot — a measure
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. hand — in cards
  18. drill — army training
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. court — of law
  21. land — to come down
  22. drill — the tool
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. drill — a practice

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