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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. field — farmland
  3. land — ground
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. bank — for money
  6. court — of law
  7. land — to come down
  8. chair — a leader
  9. court — of a king
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. march — the month
  12. bank — for money
  13. content — the amount
  14. content — happy
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bat — the animal
  17. field — a subject
  18. court — for sport
  19. bank — of a river
  20. land — a country
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. march — the month
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. march — 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