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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. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. We're almost out of ________________.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. land — to come down
  3. court — of a king
  4. court — for sport
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. net — for catching
  8. court — of law
  9. pop — music
  10. fork — in a road
  11. net — after costs
  12. cell — in biology
  13. field — farmland
  14. cell — a phone
  15. land — a country
  16. net — in sport
  17. field — for sport
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. land — ground
  21. pop — to visit
  22. field — a subject
  23. pop — soda
  24. cell — in a prison

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