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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. net — for catching
  5. court — of law
  6. clip — a video
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. court — for sport
  9. clip — for paper
  10. hand — in cards
  11. clip — to cut
  12. hand — help
  13. net — after costs
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. mine — for digging
  18. net — in sport

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