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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 124 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: spring · calf · nail · court · file · fan · band · kid

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The ________________ went through the wall.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. kid — child
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. spring — of water
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. kid — to tease
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. spring — the season
  12. calf — of the leg
  13. court — of law
  14. file — a document
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. fan — to cool the air
  17. file — a tool
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. band — a music group
  20. nail — on a finger
  21. spring — a coil
  22. court — of a king
  23. file — a line of people
  24. court — for sport

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