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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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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: bear · fall · game · pit · court · wound · bowl · ground

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. ground — crushed
  4. fall — to drop
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. bear — the animal
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. ground — the earth
  10. pit — a hole
  11. ground — a position
  12. wound — an injury
  13. game — wild animals
  14. fall — the season
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. bear — the animal
  17. court — for sport
  18. pit — in a race
  19. court — of law
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. fall — to drop
  22. game — a match
  23. court — of a king
  24. wound — an injury

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