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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: hand · charge · bound · pop · field · prune · march · court

  1. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. The tickets are free of ________________.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. prune — to trim
  3. court — for sport
  4. charge — a price
  5. prune — to trim
  6. charge — electricity
  7. field — for sport
  8. field — farmland
  9. pop — music
  10. charge — in control
  11. pop — soda
  12. court — of law
  13. field — a subject
  14. pop — to visit
  15. bound — tied together
  16. march — the month
  17. bound — obliged
  18. court — of a king
  19. hand — in cards
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. march — the month
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. march — music
  24. hand — help

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