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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. field — a subject
  4. band — a ring
  5. court — of law
  6. court — of a king
  7. field — for sport
  8. row — a line
  9. row — to paddle
  10. deal — an agreement
  11. capital — money
  12. kid — child
  13. capital — a city
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. kid — to tease
  16. deal — to handle
  17. band — a music group
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. stock — shares
  21. court — for sport
  22. stock — goods
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. band — a rubber band

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