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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: clip · fan · bat · pound · file · squash · kick · court

  1. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. squash — the sport
  3. kick — in football
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. file — a tool
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. pound — a weight
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. court — of a king
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. file — a line of people
  14. court — of law
  15. clip — for paper
  16. bat — the animal
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. clip — to cut
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. clip — a video
  22. file — a document
  23. court — for sport
  24. squash — to crush

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