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

Word bank: board · court · wind · pit · bat · toast · straw · spring

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. spring — the season
  3. court — of a king
  4. wind — moving air
  5. toast — a drink to someone
  6. pit — in a race
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. board — to get on
  9. pit — a hole
  10. toast — the most admired
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. bat — the animal
  14. board — a committee
  15. spring — of water
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. court — of law
  18. board — a flat piece
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. toast — bread
  21. wind — moving air
  22. spring — a coil
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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