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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: spell · pop · court · hand · game · land · rash · net

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. game — wild animals
  4. spell — magic
  5. rash — a series
  6. spell — a short time
  7. court — for sport
  8. pop — music
  9. land — ground
  10. rash — hasty
  11. game — a match
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. spell — letters
  14. hand — in cards
  15. land — a country
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. land — to come down
  18. pop — to visit
  19. net — for catching
  20. hand — help
  21. pop — soda
  22. court — of law
  23. net — after costs
  24. net — in sport

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