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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 116 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: land · kick · snap · march · clip · bay · race · court

  1. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. My mare is ________________ in color.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. march — the month
  4. race — humankind
  5. kick — in football
  6. clip — to cut
  7. court — for sport
  8. race — the arms race
  9. land — ground
  10. clip — for paper
  11. bay — a horse colour
  12. march — music
  13. clip — a video
  14. court — of law
  15. land — a country
  16. race — a contest
  17. land — to come down
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. court — of a king
  20. snap — to click
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. bay — to keep at bay
  23. march — the month
  24. bay — a part of the sea

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