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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. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. When will it ________________ you to start?
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. can — to be able to
  3. cold — not warm
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. suit — to fit
  6. rash — hasty
  7. suit — clothes
  8. court — of a king
  9. clip — a video
  10. rash — a series
  11. can — a tin
  12. hand — help
  13. suit — in cards
  14. snap — to click
  15. clip — to cut
  16. hand — in cards
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. cold — an illness
  19. clip — for paper
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. can — a tin
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. court — for sport

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