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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 116 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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  4. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. safe — a strongbox
  4. safe — out of danger
  5. swing — music
  6. cold — not warm
  7. bass — low music
  8. swing — to play on
  9. cold — an illness
  10. ball — a dance
  11. ball — a great time
  12. field — for sport
  13. clip — to cut
  14. bass — the fish
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. safe — out of danger
  17. court — of law
  18. clip — for paper
  19. field — farmland
  20. swing — in golf
  21. court — of a king
  22. clip — a video
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. court — for sport

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