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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. cell — a phone
  4. clip — to cut
  5. ground — a position
  6. hand — help
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. clip — for paper
  10. vault — an arched ceiling
  11. cell — in biology
  12. saw — the tool
  13. ground — the earth
  14. ground — crushed
  15. vault — a safe
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. court — of a king
  18. mine — for digging
  19. court — of law
  20. hand — in cards
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. clip — a video
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. saw — the tool

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