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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: calf · key · lean · clip · cold · swing · shower · court

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. This piece is in a major ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. clip — to cut
  3. swing — to play on
  4. key — in music
  5. shower — to wash
  6. key — for a lock
  7. shower — rain
  8. swing — music
  9. cold — an illness
  10. calf — of the leg
  11. lean — thin
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. court — of a king
  14. swing — in golf
  15. court — for sport
  16. cold — not warm
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. clip — a video
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. clip — for paper
  21. key — the most important part
  22. court — of law
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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