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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. I can't ________________ this cold.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. bound — certain
  3. stand — for spectators
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. clip — a video
  6. court — of a king
  7. stand — on your feet
  8. rash — a series
  9. rash — hasty
  10. cold — not warm
  11. ball — a dance
  12. ball — a great time
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. cold — an illness
  15. last — final
  16. bound — obliged
  17. last — finally
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. last — to go on
  20. court — of law
  21. court — for sport
  22. clip — for paper
  23. bound — tied together
  24. stand — to bear

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