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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: court · chest · swing · pop · prune · mate · jam · rule

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  7. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. court — for sport
  3. pop — music
  4. chest — of your body
  5. swing — to play on
  6. jam — in traffic
  7. rule — government
  8. court — of a king
  9. jam — to spread on bread
  10. swing — in golf
  11. mate — a friend
  12. rule — a law
  13. mate — a partner
  14. chest — a box
  15. pop — soda
  16. jam — a tight spot
  17. swing — music
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. mate — to breed
  20. court — of law
  21. prune — to trim
  22. prune — to trim
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. chest — of your body

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