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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. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. What do you think of the new ________________?
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. court — for sport
  3. pop — music
  4. pop — to visit
  5. court — of a king
  6. spring — of water
  7. cap — a lid
  8. cap — a hat
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. spring — the season
  13. court — of law
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. wound — an injury
  16. wound — an injury
  17. kick — in football
  18. pop — soda
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. cap — of ice
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. spring — a coil

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