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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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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 · coach · track · kid · deal · tube · clip · band

  1. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. court — for sport
  3. clip — for paper
  4. clip — a video
  5. band — a ring
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. kid — to tease
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. deal — to handle
  10. track — to keep track
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. deal — an agreement
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. deal — a big deal
  15. tube — the underground
  16. kid — child
  17. track — a path
  18. clip — to cut
  19. court — of a king
  20. track — a song
  21. court — of law
  22. band — a music group
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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