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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. clip — to cut
  4. court — for sport
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. clip — for paper
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. content — the amount
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. court — of a king
  12. lean — to bend
  13. lean — thin
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. coach — pulled by horses
  16. wound — an injury
  17. court — of law
  18. bat — the animal
  19. wound — an injury
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. content — happy
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. mine — for digging
  24. mine — an explosive

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