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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. I've got to change the light ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. The light ________________ burned out.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. bulb — of a plant
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. court — of law
  6. bark — to shout
  7. swing — to play on
  8. chair — a leader
  9. bulb — for light
  10. spring — of water
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. swing — music
  13. court — of a king
  14. clip — to cut
  15. court — for sport
  16. spring — a coil
  17. swing — in golf
  18. clip — for paper
  19. spring — the season
  20. snap — to click
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. bulb — for light

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