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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: board · chest · cold · land · court · pitcher · bulb · scale

  1. He is an ace ________________.
  2. The light ________________ burned out.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. I've got to change the light ________________.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. bulb — for light
  3. land — a country
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. board — a committee
  7. land — to come down
  8. chest — of your body
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. court — for sport
  11. court — of law
  12. bulb — of a plant
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cold — an illness
  15. chest — a box
  16. bulb — for light
  17. board — to get on
  18. scale — size or range
  19. land — ground
  20. chest — of your body
  21. scale — in music
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. court — of a king
  24. pitcher — a jug

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