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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: chest · pop · spring · ground · ball · march · kid · kick

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. ball — a dance
  3. kick — in football
  4. chest — of your body
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. spring — the season
  7. spring — a coil
  8. march — the month
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. pop — soda
  11. march — music
  12. ground — the earth
  13. march — the month
  14. chest — a box
  15. kid — to tease
  16. kid — child
  17. spring — of water
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. pop — music
  20. pop — to visit
  21. ground — a position
  22. chest — of your body
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. ball — a great time

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