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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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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: trunk · game · cell · court · land · ground · rash · cabinet

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. What do you think of the new ________________?
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  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. cabinet — ministers
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. land — to come down
  6. land — a country
  7. cabinet — a cupboard
  8. court — of a king
  9. ground — a position
  10. land — ground
  11. cell — a phone
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. rash — a series
  14. ground — the earth
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. game — a match
  17. rash — hasty
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. cell — in biology
  21. court — for sport
  22. game — wild animals
  23. ground — crushed
  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