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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: cap · court · saw · kid · fork · rash · land · drill

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. kid — child
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. saw — the tool
  6. court — for sport
  7. fork — in a road
  8. rash — hasty
  9. court — of a king
  10. court — of law
  11. land — ground
  12. saw — the tool
  13. drill — the tool
  14. drill — a practice
  15. drill — army training
  16. cap — of ice
  17. land — to come down
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. cap — a hat
  21. cap — a lid
  22. rash — a series
  23. land — a country
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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