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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 ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. squash — the sport
  3. clip — to cut
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. court — for sport
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. wax — to grow
  11. snap — to click
  12. court — of law
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. squash — to crush
  18. court — of a king
  19. hand — in cards
  20. hand — help
  21. clip — for paper
  22. clip — a video
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. cold — an illness

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