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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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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: rest · race · land · pop · kid · kick

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. rest — what's left
  3. race — a contest
  4. pop — to visit
  5. kick — in football
  6. land — a country
  7. rest — a break
  8. land — ground
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. race — the arms race
  11. pop — music
  12. land — to come down
  13. rest — what's left
  14. race — humankind
  15. pop — soda
  16. kid — child
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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