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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. field — for sport
  3. clip — a video
  4. perch — the fish
  5. court — of law
  6. field — a subject
  7. season — of the year
  8. court — for sport
  9. net — after costs
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. net — in sport
  12. field — farmland
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. season — in sport
  15. court — of a king
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. bear — the animal
  18. net — for catching
  19. clip — for paper
  20. bear — the animal
  21. clip — to cut
  22. chest — of your body
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. chest — a box

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