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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: court · craft · face · cell · kid · hand · march · straw

  1. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. hand — help
  3. march — music
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. cell — in biology
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. court — of law
  9. court — of a king
  10. craft — boats
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. cell — a phone
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. face — to confront
  15. court — for sport
  16. face — to point toward
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. craft — a skill
  19. hand — in cards
  20. kid — child
  21. kid — to tease
  22. march — the month
  23. march — the month
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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