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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. I can't ________________ this cold.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. stand — on your feet
  3. wind — moving air
  4. court — for sport
  5. field — a subject
  6. field — for sport
  7. squash — the sport
  8. field — farmland
  9. squash — to crush
  10. net — in sport
  11. wind — moving air
  12. court — of law
  13. stand — for spectators
  14. wake — a trail
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. court — of a king
  21. calf — of the leg
  22. net — after costs
  23. net — for catching
  24. stand — to bear

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