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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 116 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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. chip — for betting
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. chip — to eat
  5. rash — a series
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. tube — a container
  8. chip — in a computer
  9. field — farmland
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. field — for sport
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. branch — a division
  17. rash — hasty
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. tube — the underground
  22. field — a subject
  23. court — of a king
  24. court — of law

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