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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: season · court · pass · wind · wake · cell · last · clip

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  19. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. wind — moving air
  4. court — of law
  5. season — of the year
  6. last — final
  7. last — finally
  8. clip — to cut
  9. season — in sport
  10. cell — in biology
  11. cell — a phone
  12. clip — a video
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. court — for sport
  17. wake — a trail
  18. pass — to succeed
  19. pass — a permit
  20. last — to go on
  21. clip — for paper
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. wind — moving air
  24. pass — to spend time

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