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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 ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. band — a music group
  4. cold — not warm
  5. season — in sport
  6. field — farmland
  7. chest — of your body
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. cold — an illness
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. chest — a box
  13. court — of a king
  14. field — for sport
  15. band — a ring
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. season — of the year
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. field — a subject
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. chest — of your body
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. court — for sport
  24. nail — on a finger

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