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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 120 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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  10. I can't ________________ this cold.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. track — a song
  3. tear — to rip
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. court — of a king
  6. stand — on your feet
  7. bass — low music
  8. tear — from crying
  9. stand — for spectators
  10. stand — to bear
  11. court — of law
  12. clip — to cut
  13. tear — from crying
  14. track — to keep track
  15. bass — the fish
  16. clip — a video
  17. track — a path
  18. clip — for paper

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