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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: fork · kid · land · wind · kick · spring · club · swing

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. kid — to tease
  4. club — for golf
  5. wind — moving air
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. swing — in golf
  8. kick — in football
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. land — to come down
  11. club — for dancing
  12. spring — a coil
  13. spring — of water
  14. wind — moving air
  15. club — a group
  16. swing — to play on
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. land — ground
  19. land — a country
  20. swing — music
  21. kid — child
  22. fork — in a road
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. wind — to turn a key

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