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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: court · net · cell · season · clip · pop · race · wave

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  21. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. clip — for paper
  3. clip — to cut
  4. cell — a phone
  5. net — for catching
  6. race — humankind
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. net — in sport
  9. season — of the year
  10. net — after costs
  11. pop — music
  12. cell — in biology
  13. court — of law
  14. race — a contest
  15. court — for sport
  16. season — in sport
  17. court — of a king
  18. race — the arms race
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. wave — with your hand
  21. wave — a sudden rise
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. clip — a video
  24. pop — soda

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