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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: season · game · content · prune · court · nail · land · pop

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. content — happy
  3. game — wild animals
  4. content — the amount
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. season — of the year
  7. land — to come down
  8. court — for sport
  9. prune — to trim
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. pop — to visit
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. court — of law
  15. game — a match
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. land — a country
  18. land — ground
  19. court — of a king
  20. season — in sport
  21. prune — to trim
  22. pop — soda
  23. pop — music
  24. nail — on a finger

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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