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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: fork · court · can · degree · clip · chest · row · snap

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. chest — a box
  3. clip — a video
  4. can — a tin
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. clip — to cut
  7. court — of a king
  8. degree — an amount
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — of your body
  11. fork — in a road
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. can — a tin
  15. court — for sport
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. degree — temperature
  18. clip — for paper
  19. row — to paddle
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. row — a line
  22. can — to be able to
  23. degree — from a university
  24. snap — to click

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