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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. clip — a video
  5. cell — a phone
  6. stock — goods
  7. row — to paddle
  8. stock — shares
  9. court — of law
  10. court — for sport
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. cell — in biology
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. plane — a tool
  15. perch — the fish
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. tube — the underground
  21. tube — a container
  22. row — a line
  23. clip — to cut
  24. court — of a king

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