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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: bass · game · court · kid · mug · hand · hide · land

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Where did you ________________ them?
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. game — a match
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. kid — child
  6. mug — a face
  7. court — of a king
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. game — wild animals
  10. land — a country
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. land — to come down
  13. bass — low music
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. court — for sport
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. mug — to rob
  18. bass — the fish
  19. mug — a cup
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. land — ground
  22. hand — in cards
  23. court — of law
  24. hand — help

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