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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. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. court — of a king
  3. rest — what's left
  4. clip — to cut
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. object — a thing
  7. shower — rain
  8. object — an aim
  9. track — a path
  10. object — to protest
  11. court — of law
  12. degree — from a university
  13. court — for sport
  14. track — a song
  15. track — to keep track
  16. shower — to wash
  17. clip — for paper
  18. degree — temperature
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. saw — the tool
  21. saw — the tool
  22. degree — an amount
  23. rest — what's left
  24. clip — a video

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