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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. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. court — of a king
  3. chest — of your body
  4. clip — for paper
  5. last — finally
  6. firm — decided
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. net — in sport
  9. court — for sport
  10. firm — steady
  11. chest — of your body
  12. press — a publisher
  13. court — of law
  14. clip — a video
  15. chest — a box
  16. hand — in cards
  17. clip — to cut
  18. press — to push
  19. last — final
  20. net — after costs
  21. last — to go on
  22. hand — help
  23. net — for catching
  24. press — newspapers

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