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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. hand — in cards
  3. squash — to crush
  4. clip — a video
  5. clip — for paper
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. spring — of water
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. hand — help
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. spring — the season
  13. land — a country
  14. court — of law
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. clip — to cut
  17. spring — a coil
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. squash — the sport
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. land — to come down
  23. court — for sport
  24. land — ground

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