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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. bat — the animal
  4. field — a subject
  5. court — of law
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. field — for sport
  8. court — of a king
  9. clip — a video
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. clip — for paper
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. mate — a friend
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. bore — to drill
  18. mate — a partner
  19. mate — to breed
  20. clip — to cut
  21. field — farmland
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bore — to tire

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