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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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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: march · roll · court · bulb · band · content · cap · drill

  1. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. court — of a king
  3. content — happy
  4. drill — a practice
  5. band — a ring
  6. roll — a list
  7. drill — army training
  8. band — a music group
  9. march — the month
  10. bulb — for light
  11. cap — a lid
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. march — the month
  14. roll — a cake
  15. content — the amount
  16. bulb — for light
  17. cap — of ice
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. cap — a hat
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. court — of law
  22. court — for sport
  23. march — music
  24. bulb — of a plant

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