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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. bass — low music
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. clip — for paper
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. rule — a law
  7. swing — in golf
  8. swing — to play on
  9. kick — in football
  10. rule — government
  11. kid — to tease
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. bass — the fish
  18. clip — to cut
  19. clip — a video
  20. swing — music
  21. court — of a king
  22. kid — child
  23. court — for sport
  24. court — of law

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