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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: kick · kid · land · spring · court · clip · rush · wax

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. spring — a coil
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. kid — to tease
  5. spring — of water
  6. kid — child
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. kick — in football
  9. land — a country
  10. clip — for paper
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. court — of a king
  13. rush — hurry
  14. court — of law
  15. land — ground
  16. wax — to grow
  17. court — for sport
  18. land — to come down
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. spring — the season
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. clip — to cut
  24. clip — a video

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