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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. net — in sport
  3. current — happening now
  4. court — for sport
  5. spell — magic
  6. clip — a video
  7. net — for catching
  8. spell — letters
  9. land — a country
  10. face — to confront
  11. spell — a short time
  12. net — after costs
  13. court — of law
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. current — electric
  16. face — to point toward
  17. face — part of the head
  18. land — ground
  19. current — of water
  20. court — of a king
  21. kid — to tease
  22. land — to come down
  23. clip — for paper
  24. clip — to cut

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