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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. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. board — to get on
  3. field — farmland
  4. court — for sport
  5. net — in sport
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. drill — the tool
  8. mine — for digging
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. net — after costs
  11. court — of a king
  12. squash — the sport
  13. squash — to crush
  14. drill — a practice
  15. drill — army training
  16. field — a subject
  17. fork — in a road
  18. board — a committee
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. field — for sport
  21. net — for catching
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. squash — the vegetable

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