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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 was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. court — of a king
  4. foot — the bottom
  5. court — for sport
  6. ball — a dance
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. shower — to wash
  10. cold — not warm
  11. branch — a division
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. court — of law
  14. row — a line
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. shower — rain
  20. row — to paddle
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. foot — a measure

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