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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: suit · last · court · race · land · chest · rest · game

  1. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  2. When will it ________________ you to start?
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — clothes
  2. suit — to fit
  3. court — of law
  4. land — ground
  5. last — to go on
  6. game — wild animals
  7. land — to come down
  8. suit — in cards
  9. game — a match
  10. court — of a king
  11. race — humankind
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. chest — a box
  14. race — a contest
  15. last — final
  16. rest — a break
  17. last — finally
  18. rest — what's left
  19. land — a country
  20. court — for sport
  21. chest — of your body
  22. chest — of your body
  23. race — the arms race
  24. rest — what's left

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