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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's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. race — humankind
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. court — of law
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. clip — to cut
  7. court — of a king
  8. clip — a video
  9. court — for sport
  10. hand — help
  11. chest — of your body
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. bass — the fish
  14. shower — rain
  15. chest — a box
  16. race — a contest
  17. chest — of your body
  18. pit — in a race
  19. race — the arms race
  20. bass — low music
  21. hand — in cards
  22. pit — a hole
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. 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