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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: game · pound · clip · squash · fine · lean · tube · court

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. tube — the underground
  3. tube — a container
  4. squash — the sport
  5. pound — a weight
  6. fine — a penalty
  7. game — wild animals
  8. game — a match
  9. squash — to crush
  10. lean — thin
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. court — for sport
  13. court — of a king
  14. fine — high quality
  15. court — of law
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. clip — to cut
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. fine — all right
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. clip — a video
  23. clip — for paper
  24. tube — in a tire

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