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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: clip · root · chair · calf · fall · bat · mine · court

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. clip — for paper
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. root — of a plant
  6. fall — to drop
  7. chair — a leader
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. court — for sport
  10. fall — to drop
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. fall — the season
  13. root — the cause
  14. court — of law
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. clip — to cut
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. root — of a word
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. bat — the animal
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. mine — for digging
  24. clip — a video

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