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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: game · hand · spring · bat · court · cabinet · tear · toast

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  5. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  16. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  17. What do you think of the new ________________?
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  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. game — wild animals
  2. spring — the season
  3. court — of law
  4. toast — the most admired
  5. cabinet — a cupboard
  6. spring — of water
  7. game — a match
  8. hand — in cards
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. tear — to rip
  13. hand — help
  14. spring — a coil
  15. toast — bread
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. court — for sport
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — from crying
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. bat — the animal
  23. toast — a drink to someone
  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