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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. season — of the year
  4. field — farmland
  5. field — for sport
  6. clip — to cut
  7. field — a subject
  8. shower — to wash
  9. deal — an agreement
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. spell — letters
  12. court — of a king
  13. shower — rain
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. clip — a video
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. court — of law
  18. spell — a short time
  19. season — in sport
  20. spell — magic
  21. deal — to handle
  22. perch — the fish
  23. clip — for paper
  24. deal — a big deal

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