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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 124 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: vault · kick · kid · scale · tear · wound · court · sharp

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. vault — an arched ceiling
  4. kick — in football
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. kid — to tease
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. court — of law
  9. sharp — clever
  10. scale — in music
  11. wound — an injury
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. court — of a king
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. tear — from crying
  16. wound — an injury
  17. tear — from crying
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. vault — a safe
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. kid — child
  23. tear — to rip
  24. scale — size or range

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