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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. court — of law
  3. court — of a king
  4. court — for sport
  5. rest — what's left
  6. fine — all right
  7. season — in sport
  8. hand — in cards
  9. clip — to cut
  10. rest — a break
  11. hand — help
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. rest — what's left
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. fine — high quality
  18. tear — to rip
  19. season — of the year
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. tear — from crying
  22. tear — from crying
  23. snap — to click
  24. clip — a video

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