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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: craft · bore · bat · current · bowl · wind · court · clip

  1. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  17. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. wind — moving air
  3. bat — the animal
  4. court — of law
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. bore — to drill
  8. clip — for paper
  9. current — happening now
  10. court — of a king
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. clip — a video
  14. clip — to cut
  15. craft — a skill
  16. current — electric
  17. current — of water
  18. craft — boats
  19. bore — to tire
  20. court — for sport
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wind — to turn a key

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