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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. court — for sport
  5. bank — of a river
  6. row — a line
  7. content — happy
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. fall — to drop
  10. bank — for money
  11. clip — a video
  12. race — a contest
  13. race — humankind
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. clip — for paper
  16. fall — the season
  17. bank — for money
  18. content — the amount
  19. clip — to cut
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. row — to paddle
  22. fall — to drop
  23. court — of law
  24. race — the arms race

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