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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 ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. When will it ________________ you to start?
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. race — humankind
  3. clip — to cut
  4. field — farmland
  5. race — a contest
  6. suit — to fit
  7. field — a subject
  8. clip — for paper
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. root — of a plant
  11. root — of a word
  12. hand — help
  13. drill — a practice
  14. hand — in cards
  15. court — for sport
  16. drill — the tool
  17. suit — in cards
  18. court — of a king
  19. race — the arms race
  20. clip — a video
  21. drill — army training
  22. root — the cause
  23. suit — clothes
  24. field — 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