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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: court · fan · clip · temple · wound · tube

  1. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. When was this ________________ built?
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. court — of law
  3. clip — for paper
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. wound — an injury
  8. court — for sport
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. temple — side of the head
  12. tube — the underground
  13. court — of a king
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. tube — a container
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. clip — to cut
  18. clip — a video

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