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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  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. game — a match
  2. cabinet — a cupboard
  3. game — wild animals
  4. court — of a king
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. clip — a video
  7. clip — for paper
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. file — a tool
  11. degree — from a university
  12. mine — for digging
  13. plane — a tool
  14. degree — an amount
  15. court — of law
  16. degree — temperature
  17. file — a line of people
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. file — a document
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. court — for sport
  23. game — a kind of play
  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