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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. row — a line
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. cold — not warm
  7. object — to protest
  8. object — an aim
  9. court — for sport
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. capital — money
  13. row — to paddle
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. field — a subject
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. capital — a city
  18. rush — hurry
  19. object — a thing
  20. field — farmland
  21. rush — to hurry
  22. court — of a king
  23. field — for sport
  24. cold — an illness

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