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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 ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  11. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. court — of law
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. cap — a lid
  5. spring — of water
  6. net — for catching
  7. spring — the season
  8. clip — to cut
  9. court — for sport
  10. bear — the animal
  11. bear — to put up with
  12. shower — rain
  13. court — of a king
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. cap — a hat
  16. spring — a coil
  17. clip — for paper
  18. cap — of ice
  19. dip — to sink
  20. bear — the animal
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. shower — to wash
  23. clip — a video
  24. net — after costs

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