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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: band · coach · bass · saw · mine · court · capital · game

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. capital — a city
  7. bass — the fish
  8. game — wild animals
  9. court — for sport
  10. saw — the tool
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. saw — the tool
  13. mine — for digging
  14. band — a ring
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. bass — low music
  17. capital — money
  18. band — a music group
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. court — of a king
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. game — a match
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. game — a kind of play

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