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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. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. I can't ________________ this cold.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — for spectators
  2. court — of law
  3. field — farmland
  4. shower — rain
  5. stand — to bear
  6. clip — to cut
  7. shower — to wash
  8. field — for sport
  9. clip — a video
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. stand — on your feet
  12. cell — a phone
  13. march — music
  14. bass — the fish
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. bass — low music
  17. field — a subject
  18. cell — in biology
  19. march — the month
  20. clip — for paper
  21. court — of a king
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. march — the month
  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