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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. hand — help
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. hand — in cards
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. rock — music
  7. court — for sport
  8. rock — to move gently
  9. court — of a king
  10. tube — the underground
  11. kid — to tease
  12. march — music
  13. field — a subject
  14. field — farmland
  15. march — the month
  16. kid — child
  17. march — the month
  18. tube — a container
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. snap — to click
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. field — for sport
  23. rock — a stone
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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