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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  3. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  20. Where did you ________________ them?
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. can — a tin
  3. can — a tin
  4. court — of law
  5. clip — a video
  6. field — for sport
  7. clip — to cut
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. court — for sport
  10. can — to be able to
  11. field — a subject
  12. degree — temperature
  13. mug — a face
  14. land — a country
  15. land — to come down
  16. rash — hasty
  17. land — ground
  18. court — of a king
  19. mug — a cup
  20. mug — to rob
  21. degree — from a university
  22. field — farmland
  23. degree — an amount
  24. rash — a series

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