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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 116 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. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.

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

Answer key

  1. can — to be able to
  2. clip — for paper
  3. court — for sport
  4. race — humankind
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. can — a tin
  7. court — of a king
  8. net — for catching
  9. court — of law
  10. net — in sport
  11. shower — rain
  12. net — after costs
  13. clip — to cut
  14. shower — to wash
  15. race — a contest
  16. race — the arms race
  17. clip — a video
  18. can — a tin

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