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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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Word bank
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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: cold · racket · game · stand · shower · court

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. I can't ________________ this cold.
  9. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  18. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. court — of a king
  3. shower — rain
  4. game — wild animals
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. stand — on your feet
  7. game — a match
  8. stand — to bear
  9. racket — a loud noise
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. shower — to wash
  12. cold — not warm
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. court — for sport
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. stand — for spectators
  18. racket — for tennis

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