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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. court — for sport
  3. field — a subject
  4. rock — music
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. squash — the sport
  8. squash — to crush
  9. shower — to wash
  10. field — farmland
  11. court — of a king
  12. stem — to come from
  13. dip — to sink
  14. rock — a stone
  15. shower — rain
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. mine — for digging
  18. court — of law
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. mine — an explosive

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