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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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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: stem · hand · foot · cold · fork · court · file · shower

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. court — for sport
  3. foot — a measure
  4. shower — rain
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. cold — not warm
  8. stem — to come from
  9. cold — an illness
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. fork — in a road
  13. file — a tool
  14. hand — in cards
  15. court — of a king
  16. shower — to wash
  17. court — of law
  18. foot — the bottom
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. foot — part of the body
  22. file — a line of people
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. file — a document

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