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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: court · land · face · rule · hand · lash · wave · wind

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. hand — in cards
  4. land — a country
  5. face — to point toward
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. hand — help
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. face — to confront
  12. court — of a king
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. rule — a law
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. land — to come down
  18. court — for sport
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. wind — moving air
  21. rule — government
  22. wind — moving air
  23. face — part of the head
  24. court — of law

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