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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 116 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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. hand — help
  3. court — of a king
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. hand — in cards
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. capital — a city
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. clip — for paper
  11. court — for sport
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. clip — to cut
  15. capital — money
  16. chair — a leader
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. court — of law
  21. clip — a video
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. scale — in music
  24. scale — for weighing

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