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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 120 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: court · ball · stick · cold · mine · net · bound · staff

  1. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. bound — certain
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. bound — tied together
  5. ball — a great time
  6. bound — obliged
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. staff — employees
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. mine — for digging
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. net — in sport
  15. staff — a stick
  16. ball — a dance
  17. court — for sport
  18. cold — an illness
  19. staff — employees
  20. cold — not warm
  21. court — of a king
  22. net — after costs
  23. stick — to attach or keep to
  24. court — of law

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