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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: ground · roll · cap · squash · land · cold · court · deal

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  13. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  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. land — a country
  2. roll — a cake
  3. squash — the sport
  4. cap — a lid
  5. squash — to crush
  6. cap — a hat
  7. cap — of ice
  8. ground — a position
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. land — ground
  11. court — of law
  12. roll — a list
  13. deal — to handle
  14. land — to come down
  15. cold — not warm
  16. ground — the earth
  17. deal — an agreement
  18. cold — an illness
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. court — of a king
  21. ground — crushed
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. court — for sport
  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