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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: land · key · squash · cold · kick · bark · hand · court

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. court — of law
  3. land — a country
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. squash — the sport
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. key — for a lock
  9. kick — in football
  10. cold — an illness
  11. bark — to shout
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. hand — help
  14. key — the most important part
  15. land — ground
  16. hand — in cards
  17. squash — to crush
  18. court — for sport
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. key — in music
  22. court — of a king
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. cold — not warm

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