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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: vault · bound · race · court · spell · land · content · field

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  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. vault — an arched ceiling
  3. spell — a short time
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. bound — tied together
  6. spell — letters
  7. court — of law
  8. land — ground
  9. vault — in gymnastics
  10. field — a subject
  11. content — happy
  12. race — the arms race
  13. field — for sport
  14. field — farmland
  15. content — the amount
  16. vault — a safe
  17. spell — magic
  18. land — to come down
  19. bound — certain
  20. court — of a king
  21. bound — obliged
  22. race — humankind
  23. land — a country
  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