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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. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. race — humankind
  3. rest — a break
  4. hand — in cards
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. last — to go on
  8. rest — what's left
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cold — an illness
  12. hand — help
  13. race — the arms race
  14. last — final
  15. rest — what's left
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. race — a contest
  21. court — of a king
  22. last — finally
  23. court — of law
  24. patient — a sick person

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