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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 ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. I can't ________________ this cold.
  7. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. season — of the year
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. court — of law
  6. stand — to bear
  7. stand — on your feet
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. field — a subject
  10. clip — to cut
  11. field — farmland
  12. clip — a video
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. season — in sport
  16. court — for sport
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. dip — to sink
  19. mine — for digging
  20. clip — for paper
  21. stand — for spectators
  22. field — for sport
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. court — of a king

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