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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 120 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: lie · court · tear · cold · march · kick · racket · band

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  21. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. band — a ring
  3. lie — to recline
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. tear — to rip
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. tear — from crying
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. march — the month
  13. court — for sport
  14. march — music
  15. court — of a king
  16. court — of law
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. tear — from crying
  19. kick — in football
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. racket — a loud noise
  22. cold — not warm
  23. march — the month
  24. band — a music group

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