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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 · cold · clip · nail · bowl · trunk · court · dip

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. clip — to cut
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. kid — to tease
  8. court — for sport
  9. cold — not warm
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. clip — for paper
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. clip — a video
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. court — of law
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. dip — to sink
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. cold — an illness
  22. kid — child
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. trunk — of a car

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