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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. squash — the sport
  3. court — of law
  4. jam — in traffic
  5. field — a subject
  6. court — for sport
  7. bat — the animal
  8. jam — a tight spot
  9. field — for sport
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. court — of a king
  12. jam — to spread on bread
  13. kick — in football
  14. field — farmland
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. kick — with a leg

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