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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: hand · tear · rash · fork · nail · court · roll · game

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. court — for sport
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. roll — a list
  5. rash — a series
  6. tear — to rip
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. court — of a king
  10. tear — from crying
  11. hand — help
  12. rash — hasty
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. fork — in a road
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. roll — a cake
  19. hand — in cards
  20. game — a match
  21. game — wild animals
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. court — of law

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