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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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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: lie · cold · kid · racket · clip · wax · ball · suit

  1. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  9. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. When will it ________________ you to start?
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. suit — in cards
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. clip — for paper
  6. ball — a great time
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. suit — clothes
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. cold — not warm
  12. lie — to recline
  13. clip — to cut
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. wax — to grow
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. suit — to fit
  18. kid — to tease
  19. ball — a dance
  20. cold — an illness
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. clip — a video
  23. kid — child
  24. racket — a loud noise

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