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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 116 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: hand · swing · spring · court · coach · kid · race · prune

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. swing — in golf
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. court — of law
  5. race — the arms race
  6. prune — to trim
  7. swing — to play on
  8. swing — music
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. prune — to trim
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. hand — in cards
  13. kid — to tease
  14. hand — help
  15. race — a contest
  16. court — for sport
  17. court — of a king
  18. spring — of water
  19. spring — the season
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. spring — a coil
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. kid — child

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