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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. We are ________________ to obey laws.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. prune — to trim
  4. kid — to tease
  5. field — farmland
  6. face — to point toward
  7. court — for sport
  8. bound — certain
  9. field — for sport
  10. field — a subject
  11. face — to confront
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. prune — to trim
  14. face — part of the head
  15. court — of law
  16. pop — music
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. kid — child
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. pop — soda
  21. court — of a king
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. bound — tied together
  24. bound — obliged

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