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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 ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. My mare is ________________ in color.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. spring — the season
  3. wound — an injury
  4. clip — to cut
  5. wound — an injury
  6. capital — money
  7. row — to paddle
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. court — for sport
  10. spring — a coil
  11. bay — a horse colour
  12. saw — the tool
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. clip — for paper
  15. saw — the tool
  16. capital — a city
  17. row — a line
  18. bay — a part of the sea
  19. spring — of water
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. court — of a king
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. clip — a video
  24. bay — to keep at bay

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