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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 flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  5. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. My mare is ________________ in color.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. clip — for paper
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. bay — a part of the sea
  5. bay — to keep at bay
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. court — of law
  8. net — for catching
  9. spring — of water
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. spring — a coil
  12. chair — a leader
  13. clip — a video
  14. clip — to cut
  15. court — of a king
  16. swing — to play on
  17. court — for sport
  18. swing — in golf
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. net — in sport
  22. bay — a horse colour
  23. swing — music
  24. net — after costs

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