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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. field — farmland
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. field — a subject
  5. bat — the animal
  6. court — of law
  7. sharp — clever
  8. bass — low music
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. court — for sport
  11. court — of a king
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. field — for sport
  14. file — a line of people
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. bass — the fish
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. file — a document
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. file — a tool
  24. sharp — with an edge

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