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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. race — a contest
  3. race — the arms race
  4. land — a country
  5. rash — a series
  6. court — for sport
  7. race — humankind
  8. court — of a king
  9. rash — hasty
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. land — ground
  13. field — a subject
  14. swing — in golf
  15. field — for sport
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. fall — to drop
  18. wax — to grow
  19. fall — the season
  20. swing — to play on
  21. court — of law
  22. fall — to drop
  23. land — to come down
  24. swing — music

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