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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 · degree · pit · arm · leaves · swing · court · cell

  1. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. swing — music
  3. clip — to cut
  4. court — of law
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. court — of a king
  7. swing — in golf
  8. pit — in a race
  9. cell — in biology
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. court — for sport
  14. pit — a hole
  15. swing — to play on
  16. cell — a phone
  17. degree — an amount
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. degree — from a university
  21. clip — for paper
  22. degree — temperature
  23. clip — a video
  24. arm — part of the body

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