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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. ball — a great time
  3. last — to go on
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. lean — thin
  6. ball — a dance
  7. field — for sport
  8. field — a subject
  9. court — of law
  10. last — final
  11. lean — to bend
  12. field — farmland
  13. tear — from crying
  14. court — for sport
  15. tear — from crying
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. hand — help
  18. cell — in biology
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. last — finally
  21. court — of a king
  22. hand — in cards
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. tear — to rip

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