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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 120 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 surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — of the sea
  2. net — in sport
  3. net — after costs
  4. net — for catching
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. kid — to tease
  8. game — wild animals
  9. field — farmland
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. court — of law
  15. field — a subject
  16. field — for sport
  17. court — for sport
  18. kid — child
  19. court — of a king
  20. row — a line
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. wave — a sudden rise
  23. game — a match
  24. row — to paddle

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