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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 116 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 is in your ________________.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  12. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. I can't ________________ this cold.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. file — a document
  3. snap — to click
  4. court — of a king
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. net — in sport
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. clip — for paper
  11. stand — for spectators
  12. mark — a trace
  13. mark — a grade
  14. net — for catching
  15. court — of law
  16. clip — a video
  17. file — a tool
  18. net — after costs
  19. mark — to pay attention
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. stand — to bear
  22. file — a line of people
  23. clip — to cut
  24. mine — for digging

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