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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. Where did you ________________ them?
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  17. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. spell — a short time
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. rock — music
  5. spell — letters
  6. court — for sport
  7. track — a path
  8. mug — to rob
  9. track — to keep track
  10. race — humankind
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. cold — not warm
  14. race — a contest
  15. track — a song
  16. mug — a face
  17. mug — a cup
  18. race — the arms race
  19. spell — magic
  20. court — of law
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. court — of a king
  24. rock — a stone

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