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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. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. key — for a lock
  3. key — the most important part
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. chest — a box
  6. game — a match
  7. ground — crushed
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. last — finally
  10. court — of law
  11. game — wild animals
  12. last — to go on
  13. court — for sport
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. chest — of your body
  16. chest — of your body
  17. last — final
  18. court — of a king
  19. key — in music
  20. ground — a position
  21. ground — the earth
  22. row — a line
  23. row — to paddle
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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