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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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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 · dip · kid · land · wind · chest · drill · cap

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. cap — of ice
  3. cap — a hat
  4. land — a country
  5. drill — a practice
  6. wind — moving air
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. chest — of your body
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. drill — army training
  11. drill — the tool
  12. chest — of your body
  13. land — ground
  14. wind — moving air
  15. kid — child
  16. chest — a box
  17. dip — to sink
  18. court — of a king
  19. kid — to tease
  20. cap — a lid
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. court — for sport
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. land — to come down

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