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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. bass — the fish
  3. court — of law
  4. net — for catching
  5. snap — to click
  6. net — after costs
  7. clip — a video
  8. kick — in football
  9. clip — to cut
  10. tube — a container
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. clip — for paper
  14. firm — decided
  15. court — of a king
  16. court — for sport
  17. firm — steady
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. bass — low music
  23. firm — a company
  24. net — in sport

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