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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 ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. last — to go on
  4. prune — to trim
  5. content — the amount
  6. current — electric
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. saw — the tool
  9. current — of water
  10. saw — the tool
  11. prune — to trim
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. last — final
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. clip — a video
  17. court — for sport
  18. court — of a king
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. last — finally
  21. clip — to cut
  22. content — happy
  23. current — happening now
  24. clip — for paper

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