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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. current — electric
  3. ground — crushed
  4. field — a subject
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. mate — a partner
  7. ground — the earth
  8. mine — for digging
  9. tear — from crying
  10. mate — a friend
  11. swing — to play on
  12. court — of law
  13. mate — to breed
  14. current — happening now
  15. ground — a position
  16. tear — to rip
  17. court — for sport
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. field — for sport
  20. swing — in golf
  21. field — farmland
  22. current — of water
  23. tear — from crying
  24. swing — music

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