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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. field — for sport
  5. field — farmland
  6. pass — to spend time
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. court — of law
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. spring — the season
  11. spring — a coil
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. file — a line of people
  14. dip — to sink
  15. pit — in a race
  16. file — a tool
  17. court — for sport
  18. file — a document
  19. pit — a hole
  20. pass — a permit
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. bark — to shout
  23. spring — of water
  24. field — a subject

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