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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 120 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. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  23. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. court — of a king
  4. wave — of the sea
  5. scale — in music
  6. clip — to cut
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. cold — an illness
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. cold — not warm
  12. lean — thin
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. kick — in football
  16. lean — to bend
  17. clip — a video
  18. scale — size or range
  19. court — for sport
  20. clip — for paper
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. wave — a sudden rise
  23. wave — with your hand
  24. cold — the Cold War

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