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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. court — of law
  5. court — of a king
  6. scale — size or range
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. snap — to click
  9. kick — in football
  10. game — wild animals
  11. game — a match
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. hand — help
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. court — for sport
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. scale — in music
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. hand — in cards

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