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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: cold · clip · track · ball · shower · court · bear · lean

  1. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. clip — a video
  4. track — a song
  5. court — of a king
  6. ball — a great time
  7. court — for sport
  8. lean — thin
  9. clip — to cut
  10. shower — rain
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. track — to keep track
  13. bear — the animal
  14. ball — a dance
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. cold — an illness
  18. shower — to wash
  19. lean — to bend
  20. cold — not warm
  21. court — of law
  22. bear — the animal
  23. clip — for paper
  24. track — a path

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