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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. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. My mare is ________________ in color.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. scale — in music
  3. clip — a video
  4. bay — a part of the sea
  5. kid — to tease
  6. bay — to keep at bay
  7. court — of a king
  8. court — for sport
  9. tube — the underground
  10. kick — in football
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. clip — to cut
  13. court — of law
  14. scale — size or range
  15. stock — shares
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. kid — child
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. bay — a horse colour
  20. stock — goods
  21. tube — a container
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. clip — for paper
  24. tube — in a tire

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