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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: season · bound · court · march · land · cold

  1. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. season — in sport
  3. bound — tied together
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cold — an illness
  6. court — of law
  7. land — a country
  8. land — to come down
  9. season — of the year
  10. court — for sport
  11. land — ground
  12. march — the month
  13. bound — obliged
  14. bound — certain
  15. march — music
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. court — of a king
  18. season — to add flavour

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