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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: last · squash · game · clip · sharp · court · bass · wind

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. clip — to cut
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. last — final
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. court — of law
  8. wind — moving air
  9. last — to go on
  10. clip — for paper
  11. wind — moving air
  12. game — a match
  13. court — for sport
  14. bass — low music
  15. bass — the fish
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. clip — a video
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. sharp — clever
  20. squash — the sport
  21. squash — to crush
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. last — finally
  24. court — of a king

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