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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 a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. stock — goods
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. pop — music
  5. clip — a video
  6. ball — a dance
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. court — of law
  9. stock — shares
  10. clip — for paper
  11. spell — magic
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. court — for sport
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. spell — letters
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. pop — to visit
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. clip — to cut
  20. ball — a great time
  21. game — wild animals
  22. pop — soda
  23. spell — a short time
  24. game — a match

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