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

Word bank: season · stick · clip · drill · pit · chest · bat · court

  1. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. drill — the tool
  3. clip — for paper
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. drill — army training
  6. season — in sport
  7. pit — a hole
  8. court — of law
  9. bat — the animal
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. court — for sport
  12. court — of a king
  13. clip — to cut
  14. chest — a box
  15. clip — a video
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. pit — in a race
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. drill — a practice
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. chest — of your body
  24. chest — of your body

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