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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. ball — a great time
  3. court — of law
  4. fine — high quality
  5. clip — a video
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. current — of water
  8. fine — all right
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. court — of a king
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. current — happening now
  13. degree — temperature
  14. current — electric
  15. clip — for paper
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. mine — for digging
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. degree — from a university
  21. degree — an amount
  22. clip — to cut
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. ball — a dance

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