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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 goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. root — of a plant
  4. land — ground
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. root — the cause
  8. clip — to cut
  9. capital — money
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. land — to come down
  13. capital — a city
  14. court — of law
  15. land — a country
  16. court — for sport
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. court — of a king
  19. clip — for paper
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. root — of a word
  22. clip — a video
  23. bowl — a dish
  24. pitcher — a jug

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