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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: chip · cold · deal · court · band · rule · drill · field

  1. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — to handle
  2. chip — to eat
  3. court — for sport
  4. chip — for betting
  5. drill — a practice
  6. court — of a king
  7. field — farmland
  8. cold — an illness
  9. band — a ring
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. rule — a law
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. cold — not warm
  15. drill — army training
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. field — for sport
  18. band — a music group
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. field — a subject
  21. court — of law
  22. drill — the tool
  23. rule — government
  24. deal — a big deal

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