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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 ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. key — the most important part
  3. tear — from crying
  4. clip — a video
  5. court — for sport
  6. vault — a safe
  7. key — in music
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. tear — to rip
  10. key — for a lock
  11. court — of a king
  12. capital — a city
  13. root — of a plant
  14. clip — to cut
  15. bat — the animal
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. clip — for paper
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. root — of a word
  21. capital — money
  22. tear — from crying
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. root — the cause

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