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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. net — in sport
  3. net — for catching
  4. court — of a king
  5. net — after costs
  6. snap — to click
  7. field — for sport
  8. field — farmland
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. prune — to trim
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. tube — the underground
  13. prune — to trim
  14. bound — tied together
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. court — of law
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. court — for sport
  20. bound — obliged
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. field — a subject
  23. tube — a container
  24. bound — certain

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