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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  12. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. field — for sport
  3. cold — an illness
  4. ground — a position
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. court — for sport
  8. ground — crushed
  9. wake — a trail
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. foot — part of the body
  12. wave — of the sea
  13. court — of law
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. perch — the fish
  18. field — a subject
  19. foot — a measure
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. cold — not warm
  23. court — of a king
  24. ground — the earth

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