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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: clip · shower · bat · deal · game · race · court · prune

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. shower — to wash
  4. game — a match
  5. race — humankind
  6. shower — rain
  7. clip — a video
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. court — of a king
  10. prune — to trim
  11. court — for sport
  12. game — wild animals
  13. deal — to handle
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. court — of law
  16. race — a contest
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. clip — for paper
  19. bat — the animal
  20. race — the arms race
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. prune — to trim
  24. clip — to cut

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