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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. tear — from crying
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. hand — help
  5. court — for sport
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. rest — what's left
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. court — of law
  11. tear — from crying
  12. game — a match
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. cold — not warm
  15. tear — to rip
  16. hand — in cards
  17. cold — an illness
  18. game — wild animals
  19. rest — a break
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. racket — a loud noise
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. rest — what's left
  24. game — a kind of play

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