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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. court — of a king
  4. court — for sport
  5. swing — music
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. field — farmland
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. field — for sport
  11. swing — to play on
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. drill — the tool
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. court — of law
  20. swing — in golf
  21. drill — a practice
  22. drill — army training
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. field — a subject

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