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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. When will it ________________ you to start?
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. content — the amount
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. clip — for paper
  5. spring — the season
  6. spring — of water
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. court — for sport
  9. chair — a leader
  10. clip — to cut
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. clip — a video
  14. suit — to fit
  15. content — happy
  16. court — of law
  17. sharp — clever
  18. court — of a king
  19. suit — in cards
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. spring — a coil
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. suit — clothes
  24. chair — to sit on

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