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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: ball · land · court · game · face · file · pound · band

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. ball — a dance
  3. band — a ring
  4. face — to point toward
  5. pound — a weight
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. court — of law
  9. game — wild animals
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. land — ground
  12. file — a tool
  13. band — a music group
  14. file — a line of people
  15. face — to confront
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. file — a document
  18. land — to come down
  19. land — a country
  20. face — part of the head
  21. game — a match
  22. court — for sport
  23. ball — a great time
  24. band — a rubber band

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