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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. field — for sport
  3. ground — crushed
  4. court — for sport
  5. wax — to grow
  6. land — to come down
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. season — in sport
  9. ground — the earth
  10. court — of a king
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. land — a country
  13. date — the fruit
  14. season — of the year
  15. ground — a position
  16. chip — for betting
  17. land — ground
  18. court — of law
  19. chip — to eat
  20. field — farmland
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. field — a subject
  24. date — on the calendar

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