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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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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: court · leaves · clip · bay · snap · tear · track · toast

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  19. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. My mare is ________________ in color.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. toast — a drink to someone
  3. clip — to cut
  4. clip — a video
  5. court — for sport
  6. snap — to click
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. court — of law
  9. track — to keep track
  10. tear — to rip
  11. court — of a king
  12. bay — a part of the sea
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. tear — from crying
  15. toast — bread
  16. clip — for paper
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. bay — to keep at bay
  19. toast — the most admired
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. track — a path
  22. track — a song
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. bay — a horse colour

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