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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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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: fork · present · wind · spring · kid · court

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. spring — the season
  3. fork — in a road
  4. present — a gift
  5. court — for sport
  6. present — there
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. court — of law
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. wind — moving air
  11. kid — to tease
  12. wind — moving air
  13. court — of a king
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. present — the time now
  16. spring — a coil
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. spring — of water

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