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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. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. court — for sport
  3. ground — a position
  4. wound — an injury
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. court — of a king
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. bear — the animal
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. clip — a video
  12. game — a match
  13. wound — an injury
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. bear — the animal
  16. ground — the earth
  17. clip — for paper
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. clip — to cut
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. pitch — completely
  22. court — of law
  23. game — wild animals
  24. ground — crushed

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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