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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 120 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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. net — in sport
  3. spell — a short time
  4. clip — a video
  5. court — of law
  6. court — of a king
  7. march — the month
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. wound — an injury
  11. net — for catching
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. clip — for paper
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. march — the month
  18. court — for sport
  19. spell — letters
  20. net — after costs
  21. wound — an injury
  22. spell — magic
  23. clip — to cut
  24. march — music

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