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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. field — farmland
  3. fine — all right
  4. fine — a penalty
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. hand — in cards
  7. court — of a king
  8. field — for sport
  9. cell — in biology
  10. clip — a video
  11. spell — letters
  12. clip — to cut
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. spell — magic
  15. clip — for paper
  16. wax — to grow
  17. hand — help
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. cell — a phone
  20. field — a subject
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. spell — a short time
  23. fine — high quality
  24. court — 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