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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. court — for sport
  4. rock — music
  5. march — the month
  6. squash — to crush
  7. court — of law
  8. squash — the sport
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. date — the fruit
  11. wind — moving air
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. court — of a king
  14. land — a country
  15. march — the month
  16. wind — moving air
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. rock — a stone
  19. clip — for paper
  20. clip — to cut
  21. march — music
  22. clip — a video
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. land — ground

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