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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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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 · root · tear · tube · cold · bowl · game · court

  1. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. root — the cause
  2. court — of a king
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. tear — from crying
  6. root — of a word
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. tear — from crying
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. court — for sport
  11. tube — the underground
  12. tear — to rip
  13. hand — in cards
  14. court — of law
  15. game — a match
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. hand — help
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. game — wild animals
  20. cold — an illness
  21. tube — a container
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. root — of a plant
  24. bowl — a dish

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