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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: cold · dip · court · clip · bat · charge · trunk · season

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  15. The tickets are free of ________________.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. dip — to sink
  4. charge — electricity
  5. season — in sport
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. clip — for paper
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. court — of a king
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. cold — not warm
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. season — of the year
  15. charge — a price
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. cold — an illness
  18. court — for sport
  19. bat — the animal
  20. charge — in control
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. clip — a video
  23. court — of law
  24. bat — for baseball

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