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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. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. dip — to sink
  3. field — a subject
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. tear — to rip
  7. mate — a partner
  8. wound — an injury
  9. field — farmland
  10. tear — from crying
  11. swing — music
  12. swing — in golf
  13. mate — a friend
  14. field — for sport
  15. object — a thing
  16. object — an aim
  17. object — to protest
  18. mate — to breed
  19. tear — from crying
  20. swing — to play on
  21. court — of a king
  22. court — of law
  23. wound — an injury
  24. dip — a sauce

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