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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: court · lash · cold · kid · prune · clip · mug · chip

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  14. Where did you ________________ them?
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. court — for sport
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. prune — to trim
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. chip — for betting
  7. mug — a cup
  8. kid — child
  9. chip — to eat
  10. cold — an illness
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. clip — a video
  13. mug — a face
  14. mug — to rob
  15. court — of law
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. prune — to trim
  18. cold — not warm
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. clip — for paper
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. court — of a king
  23. lash — an eyelash
  24. clip — to cut

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