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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. bound — obliged
  3. cell — a phone
  4. swing — in golf
  5. current — happening now
  6. field — farmland
  7. clip — for paper
  8. clip — a video
  9. swing — music
  10. field — a subject
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. bound — certain
  13. bound — tied together
  14. swing — to play on
  15. field — for sport
  16. current — of water
  17. court — for sport
  18. court — of a king
  19. cell — in biology
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. current — electric
  22. sharp — clever
  23. clip — to cut
  24. court — of law

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