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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: content · date · mark · row · chest · ball · court · ground

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. chest — a box
  3. ball — a great time
  4. ground — crushed
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. court — of law
  8. chest — of your body
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. row — a line
  11. court — of a king
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. chest — of your body
  14. content — happy
  15. content — the amount
  16. ball — a dance
  17. ground — a position
  18. court — for sport
  19. mark — a trace
  20. date — the fruit
  21. mark — a grade
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. ground — the earth
  24. row — to paddle

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