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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. The tickets are free of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. court — for sport
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. net — in sport
  5. charge — in control
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. court — of a king
  8. charge — electricity
  9. clip — a video
  10. court — of law
  11. net — after costs
  12. clip — for paper
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. tube — the underground
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. stock — goods
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. fork — in a road
  20. net — for catching
  21. clip — to cut
  22. stock — shares
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. charge — a price

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