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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. I can't ________________ this cold.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. spring — a coil
  3. hand — help
  4. stand — to bear
  5. kick — in football
  6. hand — in cards
  7. tube — a container
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. spring — the season
  10. court — of a king
  11. spring — of water
  12. tube — the underground
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. court — for sport
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. key — for a lock
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. field — farmland
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. field — for sport
  22. court — of law
  23. field — a subject
  24. key — in 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