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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. court — of law
  3. field — a subject
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. scale — size or range
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. court — of a king
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. land — to come down
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. scale — in music
  14. land — ground
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. root — of a plant
  17. land — a country
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. fork — in a road
  20. root — the cause
  21. field — for sport
  22. root — of a word
  23. court — for sport
  24. fork — to eat with

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