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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: bat · chest · band · bound · suit · land · spell · court

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. When will it ________________ you to start?
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. band — a music group
  3. bound — obliged
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. chest — of your body
  6. land — ground
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. chest — a box
  9. suit — to fit
  10. chest — of your body
  11. spell — magic
  12. spell — letters
  13. bound — tied together
  14. suit — clothes
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bat — the animal
  17. spell — a short time
  18. land — a country
  19. court — for sport
  20. court — of a king
  21. court — of law
  22. suit — in cards
  23. bound — certain
  24. land — to come down

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