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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: land · court · straw · last · bass · spring · mine · nail

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. The ________________ went through the wall.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. land — to come down
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. court — for sport
  5. land — a country
  6. last — final
  7. bass — the fish
  8. court — of law
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. spring — of water
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. bass — low music
  14. last — to go on
  15. last — finally
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. spring — a coil
  18. land — ground
  19. court — of a king
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. mine — for digging

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