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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: bound · club · pop · court · ground · cold · wake · land

  1. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. pop — soda
  3. bound — certain
  4. court — for sport
  5. cold — an illness
  6. land — ground
  7. bound — tied together
  8. land — to come down
  9. wake — a trail
  10. ground — crushed
  11. ground — a position
  12. pop — to visit
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. club — a group
  15. bound — obliged
  16. club — for golf
  17. land — a country
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — not warm
  20. club — for dancing
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. court — of a king
  23. court — of law
  24. ground — the earth

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