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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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. court — for sport
  3. game — wild animals
  4. mate — to breed
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. wound — an injury
  7. mate — a partner
  8. wound — an injury
  9. clip — for paper
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. court — of law
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. squash — to crush
  14. game — a match
  15. march — music
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. clip — a video
  18. mate — a friend
  19. march — the month
  20. squash — the sport
  21. clip — to cut
  22. court — of a king
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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