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

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. The ________________ went through the wall.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. court — of a king
  3. snap — to click
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. fall — to drop
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. court — of law
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. cold — not warm
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. kid — child
  14. lean — thin
  15. fall — the season
  16. kid — to tease
  17. drill — a practice
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. drill — the tool
  21. lean — to bend
  22. drill — army training
  23. cold — an illness
  24. fall — to drop

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