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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  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. fan — to cool the air
  2. pit — a hole
  3. court — of law
  4. court — for sport
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. face — part of the head
  7. branch — a division
  8. net — for catching
  9. face — to confront
  10. vault — an arched ceiling
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. face — to point toward
  13. vault — in gymnastics
  14. court — of a king
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. clip — a video
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. clip — for paper
  19. clip — to cut
  20. vault — a safe
  21. net — in sport
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. pit — in a race
  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