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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 116 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 · court · board · cold · capital · bulb · swing · file

  1. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. I've got to change the light ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a flat piece
  2. court — of a king
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. file — a tool
  5. bulb — for light
  6. capital — a city
  7. board — to get on
  8. file — a line of people
  9. court — for sport
  10. swing — in golf
  11. bulb — for light
  12. bound — certain
  13. bound — tied together
  14. board — a committee
  15. swing — music
  16. cold — an illness
  17. capital — money
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. bound — obliged
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. cold — not warm
  22. court — of law
  23. swing — to play on
  24. file — a document

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