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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 116 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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. cue — a signal
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. band — a music group
  6. cue — for pool
  7. press — to push
  8. hand — in cards
  9. press — newspapers
  10. wound — an injury
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. press — a publisher
  13. court — of a king
  14. cue — a hint
  15. band — a ring
  16. shower — to wash
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. kid — child
  19. hand — help
  20. court — of law
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. kid — to tease
  23. shower — rain
  24. wound — an injury

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