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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: stem · bowl · court · clip · shower · kick · straw · kid

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. court — of law
  3. stem — to come from
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. shower — rain
  7. kid — child
  8. kick — in football
  9. clip — for paper
  10. clip — to cut
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. shower — to wash
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. court — of a king
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. clip — a video
  20. kid — to tease
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. court — for sport
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. bowl — to roll

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