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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. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. court — of a king
  3. spring — a coil
  4. court — for sport
  5. cold — an illness
  6. bore — gave birth
  7. court — of law
  8. clip — to cut
  9. clip — a video
  10. bound — tied together
  11. race — the arms race
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. race — humankind
  15. bound — certain
  16. spring — the season
  17. cold — not warm
  18. bore — to drill
  19. bore — to tire
  20. clip — for paper
  21. race — a contest
  22. chair — a leader
  23. spring — of water
  24. chair — a professorship

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