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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. ball — a dance
  3. spring — a coil
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. field — a subject
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. court — of a king
  8. spring — of water
  9. ball — a great time
  10. court — for sport
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. wave — with your hand
  13. field — farmland
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. spring — the season
  16. court — of law
  17. pop — to visit
  18. wave — a sudden rise
  19. pop — soda
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. field — for sport
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. straw — a straw man

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