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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 124 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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. key — the most important part
  3. court — of law
  4. current — electric
  5. squash — the sport
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. field — for sport
  10. band — a ring
  11. band — a music group
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. court — of a king
  14. swing — to play on
  15. court — for sport
  16. wax — to grow
  17. current — happening now
  18. key — for a lock
  19. swing — music
  20. key — in music
  21. field — a subject
  22. swing — in golf
  23. current — of water
  24. squash — to crush

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