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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. band — a music group
  3. mine — for digging
  4. pound — a weight
  5. stem — to come from
  6. band — a ring
  7. court — of law
  8. bound — obliged
  9. field — for sport
  10. face — to confront
  11. face — to point toward
  12. bound — tied together
  13. field — farmland
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. bound — certain
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. face — part of the head
  22. field — a subject
  23. court — of a king
  24. pound — for dogs

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