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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 124 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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. court — for sport
  3. leaves — of a tree
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. key — for a lock
  6. wind — moving air
  7. toast — a drink to someone
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. wind — moving air
  11. key — the most important part
  12. court — of a king
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. toast — bread
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. key — in music
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. toast — the most admired
  20. field — farmland
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. court — of law
  23. field — for sport
  24. bat — the animal

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