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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  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. field — farmland
  2. field — a subject
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. field — for sport
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. bass — low music
  7. court — for sport
  8. bass — the fish
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. temple — side of the head
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. cold — not warm
  13. content — happy
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. court — of law
  16. land — a country
  17. land — to come down
  18. land — ground
  19. cold — an illness
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. snap — to click
  23. content — the amount
  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