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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. spring — of water
  3. field — farmland
  4. mark — a grade
  5. spring — a coil
  6. mark — a trace
  7. hand — help
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. court — for sport
  10. net — in sport
  11. hand — in cards
  12. field — for sport
  13. court — of law
  14. field — a subject
  15. present — a gift
  16. present — the time now
  17. mark — to pay attention
  18. court — of a king
  19. clip — to cut
  20. spring — the season
  21. clip — for paper
  22. net — after costs
  23. present — there
  24. clip — a video

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