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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: mate · wind · prune · clip · snap · racket · chest · court

  1. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. court — of a king
  3. mate — to breed
  4. clip — a video
  5. wind — moving air
  6. court — for sport
  7. mate — a partner
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. chest — of your body
  11. court — of law
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. chest — of your body
  14. wind — moving air
  15. chest — a box
  16. racket — a loud noise
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. prune — to trim
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. prune — to trim
  21. snap — to click
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. clip — for paper
  24. clip — to cut

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