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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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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: straw · kick · cold · cell · wound · court · safe · cap

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. safe — out of danger
  3. court — of a king
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — an illness
  6. wound — an injury
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. cold — not warm
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. cell — a phone
  11. safe — a strongbox
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. cap — a hat
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. cell — in biology
  17. cap — a lid
  18. kick — in football
  19. wound — an injury
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. court — of law
  22. safe — out of danger
  23. cap — of ice
  24. cell — in a prison

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