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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. ball — a great time
  3. clip — to cut
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. vault — a safe
  6. cold — an illness
  7. pitch — completely
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. court — of a king
  10. court — for sport
  11. clip — a video
  12. hand — help
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. ball — a dance
  15. court — of law
  16. vault — in gymnastics
  17. squash — to crush
  18. squash — the sport
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. hand — in cards
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. clip — for paper
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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