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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. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — with your hand
  2. current — electric
  3. clip — for paper
  4. ball — a great time
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. ball — a dance
  7. field — for sport
  8. clip — a video
  9. wave — of the sea
  10. court — of law
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. field — a subject
  13. court — for sport
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. current — of water
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. wave — a sudden rise
  18. clip — to cut
  19. current — happening now
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. court — of a king
  24. field — farmland

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