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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. rest — what's left
  4. pop — to visit
  5. kid — to tease
  6. rest — what's left
  7. clip — for paper
  8. pop — music
  9. court — of law
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. drill — army training
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. drill — the tool
  15. ground — the earth
  16. court — of a king
  17. rest — a break
  18. kid — child
  19. clip — a video
  20. ground — crushed
  21. clip — to cut
  22. pop — soda
  23. ground — a position
  24. drill — a practice

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