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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. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  19. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — decided
  2. court — of a king
  3. court — of law
  4. clip — for paper
  5. field — a subject
  6. vault — a safe
  7. clip — a video
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. cold — not warm
  10. dip — to sink
  11. craft — boats
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. vault — in gymnastics
  14. clip — to cut
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. court — for sport
  18. craft — a skill
  19. firm — steady
  20. cold — an illness
  21. firm — a company
  22. field — for sport
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. field — farmland

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