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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. race — the arms race
  6. field — farmland
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. court — for sport
  10. ground — crushed
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. race — humankind
  14. prune — to trim
  15. ground — a position
  16. prune — to trim
  17. field — for sport
  18. field — a subject
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. court — of law
  21. race — a contest
  22. court — of a king
  23. ground — the earth
  24. prune — the fruit

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