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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 · key · hand · scale · last · wound · court · mug

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. Where did you ________________ them?
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. key — the most important part
  3. last — finally
  4. court — of a king
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. mug — a face
  8. scale — size or range
  9. scale — in music
  10. key — for a lock
  11. clip — a video
  12. wound — an injury
  13. wound — an injury
  14. hand — in cards
  15. last — final
  16. hand — help
  17. clip — to cut
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. court — for sport
  20. mug — to rob
  21. key — in music
  22. mug — a cup
  23. court — of law
  24. last — to go on

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