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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 · board · land · kid · wave · drill · band · march

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  23. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  24. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. wave — a sudden rise
  3. drill — the tool
  4. march — the month
  5. court — for sport
  6. kid — child
  7. court — of a king
  8. march — music
  9. wave — of the sea
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. land — to come down
  12. land — ground
  13. board — to get on
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. band — a ring
  16. court — of law
  17. drill — a practice
  18. land — a country
  19. drill — army training
  20. march — the month
  21. band — a music group
  22. board — a committee
  23. board — a flat piece
  24. wave — with your hand

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