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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 124 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. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  2. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a grade
  2. board — a committee
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. court — of law
  5. hand — in cards
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. spring — a coil
  8. board — to get on
  9. cold — not warm
  10. game — a match
  11. spring — of water
  12. court — for sport
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. spring — the season
  15. game — wild animals
  16. mark — a trace
  17. board — a flat piece
  18. court — of a king
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — from crying
  21. tear — to rip
  22. cold — an illness
  23. hand — help
  24. mark — to pay attention

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