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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: bay · court · toast · cold · tube · clip · game · ball

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. My mare is ________________ in color.
  9. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  10. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  20. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. game — wild animals
  3. toast — bread
  4. clip — to cut
  5. ball — a great time
  6. cold — not warm
  7. court — of a king
  8. bay — a horse colour
  9. toast — a drink to someone
  10. bay — to keep at bay
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. cold — an illness
  13. clip — a video
  14. court — for sport
  15. tube — a container
  16. tube — the underground
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. ball — a dance
  19. toast — the most admired
  20. bay — a part of the sea
  21. game — a match
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. court — of law

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