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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: cold · wind · kid · court · charge · ground · pit · plane

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. The tickets are free of ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. ground — crushed
  3. wind — moving air
  4. ground — a position
  5. court — for sport
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. charge — electricity
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. court — of law
  10. charge — in control
  11. pit — a hole
  12. wind — moving air
  13. ground — the earth
  14. plane — a tool
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — not warm
  17. court — of a king
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. charge — a price
  20. kid — to tease
  21. pit — in a race
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. kid — child

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