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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. clip — a video
  8. court — for sport
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. court — of law
  11. clip — for paper
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. court — of a king
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. lash — to lash out
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. land — ground
  20. clip — to cut
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. land — a country
  23. land — to come down
  24. chair — a leader

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