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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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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: game · court · bat · lash · ground · kid · mine · mark

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. ground — a position
  3. lash — a whip stroke
  4. mark — a trace
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. kid — to tease
  8. ground — the earth
  9. mine — for digging
  10. court — of law
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. court — for sport
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. mark — a grade
  16. bat — the animal
  17. game — a match
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. court — of a king
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. ground — crushed
  23. kid — child
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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