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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. shower — to wash
  3. fall — to drop
  4. court — of a king
  5. last — finally
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. clip — to cut
  8. fall — the season
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — a box
  11. pass — a permit
  12. clip — a video
  13. court — of law
  14. pass — to succeed
  15. shower — rain
  16. court — for sport
  17. chest — of your body
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. fall — to drop
  20. rash — hasty
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. rash — a series
  23. last — to go on
  24. last — final

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