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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 124 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. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. clip — for paper
  3. sharp — clever
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. court — of a king
  6. clip — a video
  7. cell — a phone
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cell — in biology
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. cold — an illness
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. ball — a great time
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. court — for sport
  20. court — of law
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. ball — a dance
  23. clip — to cut
  24. racket — for tennis

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