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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. court — for sport
  4. wound — an injury
  5. clip — to cut
  6. court — of a king
  7. tube — a container
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. spell — letters
  10. bass — the fish
  11. spell — magic
  12. court — of law
  13. bass — low music
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. clip — a video
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. wound — an injury
  19. spell — a short time
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. scale — size or range
  22. scale — in music
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. clip — for paper

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