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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: pitcher · tube · clip · last · spell · court

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. spell — magic
  3. clip — a video
  4. court — of a king
  5. last — to go on
  6. tube — the underground
  7. last — final
  8. spell — letters
  9. last — finally
  10. tube — a container
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. spell — a short time
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. clip — to cut
  17. clip — for paper
  18. court — of law

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