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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 · land · cold · bass · court · hand · cap · mug

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  15. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  21. Where did you ________________ them?
  22. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. board — to get on
  3. hand — help
  4. bass — low music
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. land — ground
  7. hand — in cards
  8. court — of law
  9. bass — the fish
  10. cap — a lid
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cap — a hat
  13. land — a country
  14. board — a flat piece
  15. board — a committee
  16. court — for sport
  17. cap — of ice
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. cold — not warm
  20. mug — a face
  21. mug — to rob
  22. mug — a cup
  23. court — of a king
  24. hand — part of the body

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