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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. file — a line of people
  3. calf — of the leg
  4. court — for sport
  5. court — of law
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. tube — the underground
  8. hand — in cards
  9. cold — not warm
  10. game — wild animals
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. game — a match
  13. fine — a penalty
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. fine — all right
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. file — a tool
  18. court — of a king
  19. hand — help
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. fine — high quality
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. file — a document
  24. tube — a container

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