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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  16. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. prune — to trim
  3. pop — soda
  4. fine — high quality
  5. field — farmland
  6. prune — to trim
  7. field — a subject
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. ruler — a monarch
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. pop — to visit
  14. clip — for paper
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. court — of a king
  18. clip — a video
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. clip — to cut
  21. fine — all right
  22. court — of law
  23. field — for sport
  24. pop — music

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