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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: shower · arm · field · game · dip · clip · racket · ball

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. shower — to wash
  5. dip — to sink
  6. clip — a video
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. shower — rain
  9. ball — a dance
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. clip — to cut
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. game — wild animals
  15. field — for sport
  16. ball — a great time
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. field — farmland
  20. field — a subject
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. clip — for paper
  23. game — a match
  24. racket — for tennis

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