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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: kid · court · tear · lean · spring · face · cap · land

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. cap — a hat
  3. lean — to bend
  4. spring — a coil
  5. cap — a lid
  6. court — of law
  7. land — ground
  8. land — to come down
  9. face — to point toward
  10. face — to confront
  11. kid — child
  12. court — of a king
  13. tear — from crying
  14. spring — of water
  15. face — part of the head
  16. lean — thin
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. kid — to tease
  19. spring — the season
  20. tear — to rip
  21. court — for sport
  22. cap — of ice
  23. land — a country
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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