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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. What do you think of the new ________________?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. clip — for paper
  4. court — of a king
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. cold — not warm
  8. clip — to cut
  9. court — of law
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. cabinet — a cupboard
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. court — for sport
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. kick — in football
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. clip — a video
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. cold — an illness
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. rash — a series

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