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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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. court — of law
  3. land — ground
  4. current — happening now
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. file — a tool
  9. land — a country
  10. land — to come down
  11. game — a match
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. season — in sport
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. season — of the year
  16. root — the cause
  17. file — a document
  18. game — wild animals
  19. root — of a plant
  20. current — of water
  21. file — a line of people
  22. root — of a word
  23. court — of a king
  24. current — electric

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