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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. clip — a video
  3. spring — the season
  4. court — of a king
  5. file — a line of people
  6. clip — to cut
  7. wake — a trail
  8. spring — a coil
  9. ball — a great time
  10. date — the fruit
  11. dip — to sink
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. file — a document
  14. file — a tool
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. ball — a dance
  18. spring — of water
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. court — for sport
  21. clip — for paper
  22. court — of law
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. ball — a round shape

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