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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 · bass · kid · land · fine · row · clip · cap

  1. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — a penalty
  2. kid — to tease
  3. cap — a hat
  4. court — of a king
  5. land — a country
  6. bass — low music
  7. court — of law
  8. bass — the fish
  9. clip — to cut
  10. clip — for paper
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. cap — a lid
  13. row — a line
  14. land — ground
  15. kid — child
  16. clip — a video
  17. fine — all right
  18. land — to come down
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. row — to paddle
  21. cap — of ice
  22. court — for sport
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. fine — high quality

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