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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: drill · kick · chair · file · court · cold · bat · spell

  1. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. court — of a king
  3. file — a document
  4. drill — the tool
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. file — a tool
  7. spell — magic
  8. chair — a leader
  9. cold — an illness
  10. drill — a practice
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. spell — letters
  15. file — a line of people
  16. bat — the animal
  17. drill — army training
  18. kick — in football
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. cold — not warm
  21. court — for sport
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. court — of law
  24. spell — a short time

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