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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. field — farmland
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. file — a document
  6. jam — to spread on bread
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. court — of law
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. bear — the animal
  12. bear — the animal
  13. court — for sport
  14. file — a line of people
  15. field — a subject
  16. content — the amount
  17. content — happy
  18. field — for sport
  19. file — a tool
  20. race — the arms race
  21. jam — a tight spot
  22. race — humankind
  23. race — a contest
  24. jam — in traffic

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