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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 116 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: land · content · court · pop · perch · hand · saw · fall

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. saw — the tool
  3. fall — to drop
  4. land — to come down
  5. fall — to drop
  6. fall — the season
  7. pop — soda
  8. hand — help
  9. pop — to visit
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. land — ground
  12. court — for sport
  13. content — the amount
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. land — a country
  19. perch — the fish
  20. hand — in cards
  21. pop — music
  22. saw — the tool
  23. court — of law
  24. content — happy

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