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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 120 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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. The tickets are free of ________________.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. spring — of water
  3. charge — electricity
  4. row — a line
  5. press — to push
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. clip — a video
  8. track — to keep track
  9. press — a publisher
  10. charge — in control
  11. press — newspapers
  12. spring — the season
  13. court — of a king
  14. spring — a coil
  15. track — a song
  16. charge — a price
  17. bulb — for light
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. row — to paddle
  20. clip — for paper
  21. court — of law
  22. bulb — for light
  23. clip — to cut
  24. track — a path

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