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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 120 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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. court — for sport
  3. shower — to wash
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. fine — a penalty
  6. shower — rain
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. mark — a trace
  10. pitch — completely
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. fine — all right
  13. mark — a grade
  14. court — of law
  15. fine — high quality
  16. net — in sport
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — an injury
  19. mark — to pay attention
  20. court — of a king
  21. net — after costs
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. net — for catching
  24. bat — for baseball

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