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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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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: can · kid · row · drill · court · file · hand · shower

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  23. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. court — of law
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. hand — help
  6. drill — the tool
  7. row — a line
  8. kid — to tease
  9. file — a tool
  10. shower — rain
  11. drill — a practice
  12. hand — in cards
  13. court — of a king
  14. file — a line of people
  15. shower — to wash
  16. file — a document
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. kid — child
  19. can — a tin
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. drill — army training
  22. can — to be able to
  23. can — a tin
  24. row — to paddle

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