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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: net · tear · stem · swing · court · clip · spell · kid

  1. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. swing — in golf
  3. kid — to tease
  4. clip — to cut
  5. swing — to play on
  6. spell — a short time
  7. tear — to rip
  8. clip — for paper
  9. court — of law
  10. swing — music
  11. stem — to come from
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. court — for sport
  14. tear — from crying
  15. spell — magic
  16. spell — letters
  17. kid — child
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. net — for catching
  20. clip — a video
  21. court — of a king
  22. net — after costs
  23. tear — from crying
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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