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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 ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. stock — shares
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. hand — help
  6. court — of a king
  7. board — to get on
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. court — for sport
  11. board — a committee
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. mine — for digging
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. sharp — clever
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. court — of law
  21. stock — goods
  22. hand — in cards
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. patient — a sick person

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