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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. court — for sport
  3. fall — the season
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. cue — a signal
  6. court — of a king
  7. fork — in a road
  8. row — to paddle
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. band — a ring
  12. court — of law
  13. clip — to cut
  14. clip — for paper
  15. fall — to drop
  16. capital — money
  17. band — a music group
  18. capital — a city
  19. cue — a hint
  20. clip — a video
  21. cue — for pool
  22. fall — to drop
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. fork — to eat with

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