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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 120 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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. My mare is ________________ in color.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  12. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. swing — to play on
  3. land — a country
  4. field — a subject
  5. swing — in golf
  6. swing — music
  7. land — to come down
  8. court — for sport
  9. bay — a horse colour
  10. capital — a city
  11. wave — with your hand
  12. bay — to keep at bay
  13. court — of law
  14. wave — a sudden rise
  15. court — of a king
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. capital — money
  19. field — for sport
  20. field — farmland
  21. row — a line
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. row — to paddle
  24. bay — a part of the sea

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