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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. craft — boats
  3. branch — a division
  4. field — for sport
  5. cold — an illness
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. court — for sport
  10. season — in sport
  11. fine — all right
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. game — a match
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. court — of a king
  18. season — of the year
  19. fine — high quality
  20. court — of law
  21. craft — a skill
  22. field — a subject
  23. field — farmland
  24. game — wild animals

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