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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. rash — hasty
  3. spell — magic
  4. content — happy
  5. pit — a hole
  6. pit — in a race
  7. court — of a king
  8. court — for sport
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. last — finally
  11. field — for sport
  12. rash — a series
  13. race — humankind
  14. race — the arms race
  15. spell — a short time
  16. field — farmland
  17. race — a contest
  18. court — of law
  19. last — final
  20. content — the amount
  21. field — a subject
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. spell — letters
  24. last — to go on

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