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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Where did you ________________ them?
  6. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. clip — a video
  3. court — for sport
  4. prune — to trim
  5. mug — to rob
  6. mug — a cup
  7. clip — for paper
  8. field — for sport
  9. mug — a face
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. prune — to trim
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. field — farmland
  14. court — of a king
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. march — the month
  18. court — of law
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. perch — the fish
  22. march — the month
  23. clip — to cut
  24. march — music

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