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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: game · court · cell · march · race · straw

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. court — for sport
  3. cell — a phone
  4. race — a contest
  5. race — humankind
  6. race — the arms race
  7. march — music
  8. game — wild animals
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. court — of a king
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. march — the month
  14. court — of law
  15. game — a match
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. cell — in biology
  18. cell — in a prison

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