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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: tube · cold · game · fork · ball · hand · snap · kick

  1. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. game — wild animals
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. fork — in a road
  12. snap — to click
  13. cold — not warm
  14. tube — the underground
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. game — a match
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. tube — a container
  20. hand — help
  21. kick — in football
  22. hand — in cards
  23. cold — an illness
  24. ball — a great time

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