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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 116 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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. stock — goods
  4. court — of a king
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. row — a line
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. clip — a video
  9. clip — to cut
  10. pit — a hole
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. court — of law
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. kid — child
  18. row — to paddle
  19. stock — shares
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. kid — to tease
  22. pit — in a race
  23. pit — a fruit stone
  24. clip — for paper

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