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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. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. The tickets are free of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — electricity
  2. root — of a word
  3. prune — to trim
  4. prune — to trim
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. hand — help
  7. clip — a video
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. scale — in music
  10. court — of a king
  11. court — for sport
  12. rest — a break
  13. rest — what's left
  14. clip — to cut
  15. court — of law
  16. rest — what's left
  17. charge — in control
  18. root — of a plant
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. hand — in cards
  21. clip — for paper
  22. root — the cause
  23. scale — size or range
  24. charge — a price

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