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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. clip — a video
  3. last — final
  4. court — of a king
  5. last — to go on
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. scale — size or range
  9. clip — to cut
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. club — for dancing
  12. scale — in music
  13. clip — for paper
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. hand — in cards
  19. court — of law
  20. mine — for digging
  21. club — a group
  22. court — for sport
  23. hand — help
  24. club — for golf

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