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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  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. clip — a video
  2. cold — an illness
  3. net — after costs
  4. court — of law
  5. pound — a weight
  6. club — for dancing
  7. file — a document
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. net — in sport
  10. clip — for paper
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. bank — for money
  13. file — a line of people
  14. file — a tool
  15. net — for catching
  16. club — for golf
  17. bank — for money
  18. court — for sport
  19. bank — of a river
  20. club — a group
  21. court — of a king
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. cold — not warm
  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