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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. ground — a position
  3. field — for sport
  4. field — farmland
  5. field — a subject
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. last — to go on
  9. court — for sport
  10. ground — crushed
  11. last — finally
  12. wake — a trail
  13. plane — in geometry
  14. ground — the earth
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. court — of a king
  17. file — a document
  18. last — final
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. file — a line of people
  21. rash — a series
  22. plane — a tool
  23. file — a tool
  24. court — of law

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