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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 · stem · pound · drill · court · fan · land · game

  1. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. game — a match
  3. game — wild animals
  4. clip — to cut
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. clip — a video
  7. drill — the tool
  8. court — for sport
  9. clip — for paper
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. land — a country
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. land — to come down
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. court — of law
  16. pound — a weight
  17. land — ground
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. drill — army training
  20. stem — to come from
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. court — of a king
  23. drill — a practice
  24. pound — to hit hard

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