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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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. rash — hasty
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. rash — a series
  6. court — of a king
  7. club — for dancing
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. club — for golf
  10. content — the amount
  11. content — happy
  12. row — to paddle
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. clip — to cut
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. court — for sport
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. clip — a video
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. club — a group
  21. clip — for paper
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. row — a line
  24. content — videos and posts

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