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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 · sharp · foot · race · content · hand · bat · cell

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. foot — part of the body
  4. hand — in cards
  5. cell — a phone
  6. court — for sport
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. foot — the bottom
  12. content — happy
  13. sharp — clever
  14. content — the amount
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. foot — a measure
  17. race — the arms race
  18. race — a contest
  19. race — humankind
  20. court — of law
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. hand — help
  23. court — of a king
  24. cell — in biology

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