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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. field — a subject
  3. field — for sport
  4. staff — a stick
  5. clip — to cut
  6. spring — a coil
  7. spring — the season
  8. chair — a leader
  9. staff — employees
  10. pop — music
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. pop — soda
  14. content — happy
  15. court — of a king
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. court — for sport
  18. clip — for paper
  19. spring — of water
  20. content — the amount
  21. clip — a video
  22. court — of law
  23. staff — employees
  24. field — farmland

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