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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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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: current · court · spring · wind · straw · kid · band · game

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. current — electric
  3. court — for sport
  4. wind — moving air
  5. game — a match
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. kid — child
  8. kid — to tease
  9. game — wild animals
  10. current — happening now
  11. wind — moving air
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. spring — a coil
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. band — a ring
  17. band — a music group
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. spring — of water
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. court — of law
  23. spring — the season
  24. current — 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