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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. court — of law
  4. clip — for paper
  5. current — electric
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. clip — a video
  8. swing — in golf
  9. spring — a coil
  10. swing — to play on
  11. clip — to cut
  12. current — happening now
  13. march — the month
  14. rule — a law
  15. rule — government
  16. court — of a king
  17. swing — music
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. march — music
  20. march — the month
  21. current — of water
  22. spring — the season
  23. court — for sport
  24. rule — to rule out

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