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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: kick · patient · fork · last · court · racket

  1. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. court — for sport
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. court — of a king
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. last — finally
  8. court — of law
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. last — final
  11. last — to go on
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. kick — in football
  17. fork — in a road
  18. fork — to eat with

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