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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  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. ball — a dance
  2. land — a country
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. bound — tied together
  5. bound — certain
  6. court — of law
  7. game — wild animals
  8. key — for a lock
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. court — for sport
  11. fork — in a road
  12. land — to come down
  13. ball — a great time
  14. game — a match
  15. cold — not warm
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. bound — obliged
  18. cold — an illness
  19. key — the most important part
  20. key — in music
  21. court — of a king
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. land — ground
  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