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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: ground · clip · hand · kick · spring · court · kid · rush

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. kick — in football
  3. spring — the season
  4. court — for sport
  5. clip — to cut
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. kid — to tease
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. hand — help
  10. ground — a position
  11. clip — a video
  12. court — of a king
  13. rush — hurry
  14. kid — child
  15. court — of law
  16. spring — a coil
  17. ground — crushed
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. hand — in cards
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. clip — for paper
  24. ground — the earth

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