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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: hand · mark · cold · row · court · rule · perch · spell

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. cold — not warm
  4. court — for sport
  5. court — of a king
  6. spell — a short time
  7. mark — a grade
  8. mark — a trace
  9. hand — in cards
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. rule — government
  14. spell — magic
  15. hand — help
  16. court — of law
  17. spell — letters
  18. rule — a law
  19. cold — an illness
  20. row — to paddle
  21. perch — the fish
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. cold — the Cold War

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