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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: straw · cold · fan · kick · pitch · tear · mine · court

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. court — of a king
  4. kick — in football
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. tear — from crying
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. court — for sport
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. court — of law
  11. cold — an illness
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. pitch — completely
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. mine — for digging
  23. cold — not warm
  24. tear — from crying

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