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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: court · kick · cold · rest · lie · clip · mate · trunk

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. kick — in football
  3. mate — a friend
  4. rest — what's left
  5. court — for sport
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. lie — to recline
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. clip — a video
  11. mate — a partner
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. court — of a king
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — not warm
  19. rest — what's left
  20. rest — a break
  21. clip — for paper
  22. mate — to breed
  23. court — of law
  24. kick — with a leg

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