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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. tear — from crying
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. date — the fruit
  5. pop — to visit
  6. clip — for paper
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. clip — to cut
  10. bore — to drill
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. pop — soda
  13. pop — music
  14. tear — to rip
  15. bat — the animal
  16. court — for sport
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. court — of a king
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. tear — from crying
  21. clip — a video
  22. kick — in football
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. bore — to tire

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