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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. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  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. chest — a box
  2. court — of a king
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. court — for sport
  5. tube — a container
  6. hand — help
  7. rock — music
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. chest — of your body
  10. court — of law
  11. saw — the tool
  12. hand — in cards
  13. rock — a stone
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. chair — a leader
  17. tube — the underground
  18. clip — for paper
  19. clip — to cut
  20. saw — the tool
  21. chest — of your body
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  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