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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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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: mine · pop · coach · racket · kid · kick · swing · cold

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. Have you met the new head ________________?
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. pop — music
  8. cold — not warm
  9. kid — child
  10. mine — for digging
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. swing — music
  13. swing — to play on
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. pop — to visit
  16. swing — in golf
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. cold — an illness
  19. kid — to tease
  20. kick — in football
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. pop — soda

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