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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 120 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
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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: tear · hide · nail · bowl · field · court · cold · game

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. tear — to rip
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. court — of law
  7. game — wild animals
  8. cold — not warm
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. tear — from crying
  13. field — for sport
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. cold — an illness
  18. field — a subject
  19. hide — animal skin
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. tear — from crying
  22. field — farmland
  23. court — for sport
  24. court — of a king

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