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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. squash — the sport
  3. squash — to crush
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. race — humankind
  6. court — of law
  7. ball — a dance
  8. court — for sport
  9. ball — a great time
  10. race — the arms race
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. field — a subject
  13. court — of a king
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. clip — for paper
  16. race — a contest
  17. clip — to cut
  18. clip — a video
  19. wind — moving air
  20. prune — to trim
  21. wind — moving air
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. field — farmland
  24. prune — to trim

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