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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. court — for sport
  3. wound — an injury
  4. tear — from crying
  5. drill — army training
  6. drill — the tool
  7. tear — to rip
  8. key — the most important part
  9. wound — an injury
  10. rash — hasty
  11. chest — of your body
  12. hand — help
  13. rash — a series
  14. key — for a lock
  15. chest — a box
  16. chest — of your body
  17. court — of a king
  18. hand — in cards
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. key — in music
  21. drill — a practice
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. tear — from crying
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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