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

Word bank: clip · press · fork · wound · court · kid

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. court — for sport
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. press — to push
  5. court — of a king
  6. wound — an injury
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. clip — to cut
  9. wound — an injury
  10. press — a publisher
  11. fork — in a road
  12. press — newspapers
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. kid — to tease
  15. clip — a video
  16. court — of law
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. kid — child

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