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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: deal · hand · date · drill · land · court · rest · bay

  1. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. hand — help
  4. deal — a big deal
  5. court — for sport
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. drill — the tool
  8. bay — a part of the sea
  9. court — of law
  10. deal — to handle
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. land — to come down
  13. land — a country
  14. deal — an agreement
  15. rest — what's left
  16. drill — army training
  17. rest — a break
  18. date — the fruit
  19. bay — to keep at bay
  20. hand — in cards
  21. land — ground
  22. rest — what's left
  23. drill — a practice
  24. court — of a king

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