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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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Word bank
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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: spring · file · firm · kick · cold · chest · ground · court

  1. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. chest — of your body
  4. ground — a position
  5. file — a tool
  6. file — a line of people
  7. spring — of water
  8. cold — not warm
  9. firm — a company
  10. ground — the earth
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. kick — in football
  14. firm — decided
  15. chest — of your body
  16. court — of a king
  17. spring — a coil
  18. court — of law
  19. chest — a box
  20. ground — crushed
  21. court — for sport
  22. firm — steady
  23. file — a document
  24. spring — the season

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