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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. court — for sport
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. wind — moving air
  5. spell — letters
  6. kid — to tease
  7. wind — moving air
  8. field — farmland
  9. spell — a short time
  10. rock — music
  11. court — of a king
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. rock — to move gently
  14. spring — a coil
  15. kid — child
  16. plane — a tool
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. field — a subject
  19. field — for sport
  20. rock — a stone
  21. spring — of water
  22. spring — the season
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. spell — magic

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