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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · straw · court · deal · rush · spring · pit · hand

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. pit — a hole
  3. cold — an illness
  4. pit — in a race
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. spring — a coil
  9. hand — in cards
  10. deal — an agreement
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. court — of law
  14. deal — a big deal
  15. spring — the season
  16. spring — of water
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. rush — hurry
  20. hand — help
  21. cold — not warm
  22. court — of a king
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. deal — to handle

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