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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 116 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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. clip — for paper
  3. clip — to cut
  4. pop — to visit
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. court — of a king
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. bat — the animal
  9. wake — a trail
  10. key — in music
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. snap — to click
  13. key — the most important part
  14. pop — soda
  15. court — of law
  16. key — for a lock
  17. pop — music
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. court — for sport
  24. clip — a video

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