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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 120 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: mouse · bear · season · court · file · last · clip · wound

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  4. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. wound — an injury
  3. bear — to put up with
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. clip — to cut
  6. last — final
  7. season — of the year
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. court — of a king
  10. bear — the animal
  11. file — a document
  12. bear — the animal
  13. file — a tool
  14. file — a line of people
  15. wound — an injury
  16. mouse — for a computer
  17. court — of law
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. last — finally
  20. clip — a video
  21. season — in sport
  22. clip — for paper
  23. court — for sport
  24. season — to add flavour

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