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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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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 · wound · game · perch · kid · swing · rule · land

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. game — a match
  3. wound — an injury
  4. perch — the fish
  5. court — of a king
  6. court — for sport
  7. land — a country
  8. swing — music
  9. rule — a law
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. game — wild animals
  12. wound — an injury
  13. kid — to tease
  14. swing — to play on
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. rule — government
  18. land — to come down
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. swing — in golf
  22. kid — child
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. land — ground

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