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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. court — for sport
  3. wind — moving air
  4. march — the month
  5. court — of a king
  6. chest — of your body
  7. file — a line of people
  8. march — the month
  9. march — music
  10. wind — moving air
  11. sharp — clever
  12. chest — a box
  13. file — a tool
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. court — of law
  17. game — wild animals
  18. file — a document
  19. field — a subject
  20. field — farmland
  21. field — for sport
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. game — a match
  24. chest — of your body

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