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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  3. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. toast — the most admired
  3. cue — a hint
  4. tear — to rip
  5. cell — in biology
  6. cue — a signal
  7. court — of a king
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. court — of law
  10. toast — a drink to someone
  11. cell — a phone
  12. sharp — clever
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. toast — bread
  17. tear — from crying
  18. court — for sport
  19. bowl — a football final
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. cue — for pool
  23. tear — from crying
  24. cell — in a prison

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