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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 120 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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. court — for sport
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. land — to come down
  6. kick — in football
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. pound — a weight
  9. ball — a great time
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. land — a country
  13. land — ground
  14. field — farmland
  15. field — a subject
  16. field — for sport
  17. ball — a dance
  18. cold — not warm
  19. court — of law
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. lean — to bend
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. cold — an illness
  24. court — of a king

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