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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 116 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. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. What do you think of the new ________________?
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — a cupboard
  2. cold — an illness
  3. fork — in a road
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. court — of a king
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. clip — a video
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. chip — to eat
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. saw — the tool
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. clip — for paper
  16. cold — not warm
  17. court — for sport
  18. court — of law
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. clip — to cut
  22. saw — the tool
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. chip — for betting

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