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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. court — of a king
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. chest — of your body
  6. mark — a grade
  7. band — a music group
  8. chest — of your body
  9. sharp — clever
  10. court — of law
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. court — for sport
  14. wound — an injury
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. spring — of water
  17. band — a ring
  18. mark — to pay attention
  19. spring — a coil
  20. wound — an injury
  21. chest — a box
  22. mark — a trace
  23. spring — the season
  24. sharp — with an edge

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