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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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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: court · bore · cold · date · nail · lie · rule · fork

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. bore — gave birth
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. cold — an illness
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. lie — to recline
  10. rule — a law
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. court — for sport
  16. fork — in a road
  17. bore — to tire
  18. cold — not warm
  19. rule — government
  20. date — the fruit
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. bore — to drill
  24. court — of a king

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