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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 120 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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  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. court — for sport
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. clip — to cut
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. plane — a tool
  10. clip — for paper
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. kid — child
  13. bat — the animal
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. bark — to shout
  17. court — of law
  18. bass — the fish
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. clip — a video
  21. snap — to click
  22. bass — low music
  23. kid — to tease
  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