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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 · lie · bank · clip · game · cold · squash · bat

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. court — of a king
  3. game — a match
  4. cold — an illness
  5. clip — for paper
  6. court — of law
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. bank — for money
  10. squash — the sport
  11. squash — to crush
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. bat — the animal
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. cold — not warm
  16. bank — for money
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. clip — a video
  20. court — for sport
  21. clip — to cut
  22. bank — of a river
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. lie — to recline

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