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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 116 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: bass · ball · cold · squash · court · tube · lash · rule

  1. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. squash — the sport
  3. rule — a law
  4. court — of a king
  5. tube — the underground
  6. court — for sport
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. cold — an illness
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. court — of law
  12. ball — a great time
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. ball — a dance
  17. cold — not warm
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. bass — the fish
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. squash — to crush
  23. bass — low music
  24. tube — a container

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