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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. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — out of danger
  2. court — for sport
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. field — for sport
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. court — of law
  7. cell — in biology
  8. field — farmland
  9. cold — an illness
  10. object — to protest
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. cold — not warm
  13. object — an aim
  14. court — of a king
  15. object — a thing
  16. field — a subject
  17. prune — to trim
  18. cell — a phone
  19. safe — a strongbox
  20. branch — a division
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. safe — out of danger
  23. prune — to trim
  24. cold — the Cold War

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