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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: clip · kick · wound · game · hand · court · present · shower

  1. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. court — of a king
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. hand — help
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. court — of law
  8. wound — an injury
  9. game — wild animals
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. present — there
  12. present — a gift
  13. wound — an injury
  14. clip — a video
  15. shower — rain
  16. court — for sport
  17. clip — for paper
  18. shower — to wash
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. present — the time now
  21. hand — in cards
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. clip — to cut
  24. game — a match

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