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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. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a round shape
  2. season — in sport
  3. bat — the animal
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. court — for sport
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. court — of law
  8. march — the month
  9. march — music
  10. ball — a dance
  11. cold — an illness
  12. march — the month
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. season — of the year
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. race — the arms race
  17. cold — not warm
  18. race — humankind
  19. race — a contest
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. pitch — completely
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. court — of a king
  24. ball — a great time

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