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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: straw · date · staff · bound · trunk · land · scale · court

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. land — ground
  3. land — to come down
  4. court — of a king
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. scale — in music
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. bound — certain
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. bound — obliged
  11. date — the fruit
  12. court — for sport
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. staff — employees
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. bound — tied together
  18. staff — a stick
  19. staff — employees
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. scale — size or range
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. land — a country

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