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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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. wound — an injury
  6. field — a subject
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. wax — to grow
  9. capital — money
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. court — of a king
  14. field — farmland
  15. capital — a city
  16. sharp — clever
  17. field — for sport
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. plane — a tool
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. court — of law
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. wound — an injury
  24. fork — in a road

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