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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: cold · hand · roll · snap · rule · pitcher · court · tear

  1. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. tear — to rip
  3. tear — from crying
  4. court — for sport
  5. court — of law
  6. roll — a cake
  7. cold — an illness
  8. court — of a king
  9. hand — help
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. snap — to click
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. cold — not warm
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. rule — a law
  19. tear — from crying
  20. hand — in cards
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. rule — government
  24. pitcher — a jug

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