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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: rash · mine · cap · court · row · clip · kid · calf

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. mine — for digging
  4. row — to paddle
  5. clip — a video
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. calf — of the leg
  8. cap — a lid
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. cap — of ice
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. cap — a hat
  14. clip — to cut
  15. kid — to tease
  16. rash — hasty
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. court — for sport
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. clip — for paper
  21. court — of a king
  22. rash — a series
  23. court — of law
  24. row — a line

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