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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. clip — a video
  3. court — for sport
  4. face — to confront
  5. pop — music
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. ground — a position
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. pop — soda
  12. face — part of the head
  13. court — of a king
  14. row — a line
  15. clip — for paper
  16. court — of law
  17. pop — to visit
  18. wax — to grow
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. clip — to cut
  21. face — to point toward
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. row — to paddle
  24. ground — the earth

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