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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: face · bat · pop · lash · clip · pitcher · court · tear

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. court — of law
  3. lash — a whip stroke
  4. clip — to cut
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. face — to confront
  7. tear — to rip
  8. clip — a video
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. clip — for paper
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. pop — to visit
  15. bat — the animal
  16. pop — music
  17. tear — from crying
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. tear — from crying
  20. face — part of the head
  21. pop — soda
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. face — to point toward
  24. court — of a king

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