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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. bound — tied together
  3. court — for sport
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. court — of a king
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. root — of a plant
  8. chest — a box
  9. chest — of your body
  10. root — of a word
  11. cold — an illness
  12. bound — certain
  13. root — the cause
  14. band — a ring
  15. band — a music group
  16. cold — not warm
  17. chest — of your body
  18. bound — obliged
  19. court — of law
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. lie — to recline
  23. hand — in cards
  24. cold — the Cold War

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