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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 ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. cue — a signal
  3. cue — a hint
  4. capital — a city
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. capital — money
  7. clip — a video
  8. last — to go on
  9. snap — to click
  10. degree — from a university
  11. court — of a king
  12. mine — for digging
  13. degree — an amount
  14. degree — temperature
  15. last — final
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. clip — for paper
  20. last — finally
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. cue — for pool
  23. court — for sport
  24. clip — to cut

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