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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. bat — the animal
  4. scale — in music
  5. wound — an injury
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. scale — size or range
  8. season — of the year
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. wound — an injury
  12. court — of law
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. deal — a big deal
  16. season — in sport
  17. field — a subject
  18. court — for sport
  19. field — farmland
  20. deal — to handle
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. field — for sport
  24. court — of a king

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