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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. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. lash — an eyelash
  3. game — a match
  4. net — in sport
  5. court — of a king
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. branch — a division
  9. court — for sport
  10. court — of law
  11. clip — to cut
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. clip — a video
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. shower — to wash
  16. wind — moving air
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. net — after costs
  19. game — wild animals
  20. shower — rain
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. net — for catching
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. wind — moving air

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