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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 · hand · cap · snap · rule · race · chest · roll

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. chest — of your body
  3. rule — a law
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. race — humankind
  6. chest — a box
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. roll — a cake
  10. cap — a hat
  11. rule — government
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. hand — help
  14. roll — a list
  15. court — of law
  16. chest — of your body
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. court — of a king
  19. hand — in cards
  20. cap — of ice
  21. cap — a lid
  22. snap — to click
  23. race — the arms race
  24. race — a contest

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