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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: fall · hand · lash · land · nail · court · last · pop

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. court — of law
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. last — to go on
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. fall — the season
  7. pop — to visit
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. land — to come down
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. last — final
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. court — for sport
  14. hand — in cards
  15. land — ground
  16. pop — music
  17. lash — a whip stroke
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. court — of a king
  20. fall — to drop
  21. last — finally
  22. pop — soda
  23. fall — to drop
  24. land — a country

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