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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: court · jam · saw · bass · land · drill · temple · spring

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  16. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. bass — low music
  3. land — ground
  4. spring — of water
  5. spring — a coil
  6. bass — the fish
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. land — to come down
  9. drill — the tool
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. jam — in traffic
  14. court — of law
  15. temple — side of the head
  16. jam — a tight spot
  17. land — a country
  18. saw — the tool
  19. jam — to spread on bread
  20. saw — the tool
  21. court — of a king
  22. drill — a practice
  23. drill — army training
  24. spring — the season

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