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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: cap · court · cabinet · rule · kid · game · bat · fall

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. What do you think of the new ________________?
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. fall — the season
  3. cap — a lid
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. game — a match
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. cap — of ice
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. court — of a king
  11. rule — a law
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. court — of law
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. court — for sport
  16. rule — government
  17. game — wild animals
  18. bat — the animal
  19. kid — child
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. fall — to drop
  22. fall — to drop
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. cap — a hat

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