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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 ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. court — of a king
  4. field — farmland
  5. spring — the season
  6. field — a subject
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. field — for sport
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. vault — a safe
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. bat — the animal
  15. cold — not warm
  16. vault — an arched ceiling
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. spring — of water
  19. court — for sport
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. spring — a coil
  22. mine — for digging
  23. cold — an illness
  24. mine — belonging to me

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