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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 120 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: racket · court · clip · row · squash · rest · chest · kid

  1. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. chest — of your body
  3. court — of law
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. clip — to cut
  6. kid — to tease
  7. court — for sport
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. clip — a video
  10. rest — what's left
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. squash — to crush
  13. squash — the sport
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. row — a line
  16. row — to paddle
  17. kid — child
  18. rest — a break
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. clip — for paper
  21. chest — a box
  22. court — of a king
  23. chest — of your body
  24. rest — what's left

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