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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. ground — the earth
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. court — of a king
  5. clip — for paper
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. clip — a video
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. clip — to cut
  10. lean — to bend
  11. court — of law
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. ground — crushed
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. ground — a position
  16. bat — the animal
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — not warm
  20. lean — thin
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. fork — in a road
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. bat — for baseball

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