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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 · roll · fork · track · clip · ground · race · court

  1. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. clip — a video
  3. court — of a king
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. clip — for paper
  7. ground — a position
  8. race — the arms race
  9. roll — a list
  10. ground — crushed
  11. fork — in a road
  12. track — to keep track
  13. race — a contest
  14. race — humankind
  15. track — a path
  16. clip — to cut
  17. kid — to tease
  18. kid — child
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. court — of law
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. court — for sport
  23. track — a song
  24. roll — a cake

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