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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: rest · game · root · court · clip · coach · fall · cell

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. root — the cause
  3. rest — a break
  4. court — of a king
  5. game — a match
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. root — of a word
  8. cell — a phone
  9. fall — the season
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. game — wild animals
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. clip — a video
  14. rest — what's left
  15. clip — to cut
  16. court — of law
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. cell — in biology
  19. rest — what's left
  20. clip — for paper
  21. fall — to drop
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. root — of a plant
  24. fall — to drop

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