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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: court · kid · hand · calf · bound · cold · season · wind

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. season — in sport
  3. wind — moving air
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. calf — of the leg
  6. bound — certain
  7. bound — tied together
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. court — for sport
  11. bound — obliged
  12. court — of law
  13. season — of the year
  14. wind — moving air
  15. court — of a king
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. kid — child
  18. cold — an illness
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. hand — help
  22. hand — in cards
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. cold — not warm

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