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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 116 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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. I don't want to ________________ the boat.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. field — for sport
  3. court — of a king
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. field — farmland
  7. wound — an injury
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. current — electric
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. march — the month
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. field — a subject
  15. march — music
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. court — for sport
  18. current — happening now
  19. current — of water
  20. march — the month
  21. rock — a stone
  22. court — of law
  23. wound — an injury
  24. rock — to move gently

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