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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Take your time. There's no ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. content — happy
  6. court — of a king
  7. swing — to play on
  8. track — to keep track
  9. scale — size or range
  10. court — for sport
  11. swing — music
  12. clip — to cut
  13. track — a song
  14. swing — in golf
  15. shower — rain
  16. content — the amount
  17. scale — in music
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. clip — for paper
  21. track — a path
  22. court — of law
  23. clip — a video
  24. rush — hurry

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