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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: court · pop · root · tube · wind · squash · cold · bear

  1. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. pop — music
  3. squash — the sport
  4. court — for sport
  5. court — of law
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. court — of a king
  8. root — of a plant
  9. pop — to visit
  10. squash — to crush
  11. bear — the animal
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — an illness
  14. wind — moving air
  15. tube — a container
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. cold — not warm
  19. wind — moving air
  20. pop — soda
  21. tube — the underground
  22. root — of a word
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. root — the cause

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