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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. court — for sport
  3. cell — a phone
  4. court — of a king
  5. pop — soda
  6. scale — in music
  7. band — a ring
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. cell — in biology
  10. court — of law
  11. last — finally
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. pop — music
  14. face — part of the head
  15. last — final
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. scale — size or range
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. face — to point toward
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. last — to go on
  22. band — a music group
  23. face — to confront
  24. band — a rubber band

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