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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 is in your ________________.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. lean — thin
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. scale — size or range
  5. rash — hasty
  6. tear — from crying
  7. scale — in music
  8. wake — a trail
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. saw — the tool
  11. court — of law
  12. clip — to cut
  13. court — of a king
  14. tear — to rip
  15. lean — to bend
  16. clip — a video
  17. clip — for paper
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. tear — from crying
  21. saw — the tool
  22. rash — a series
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. wake — before a funeral

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