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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: net · court · row · mark · plane · wound · ground · tear

  1. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a grade
  2. tear — from crying
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. court — for sport
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. net — after costs
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. mark — a trace
  9. court — of law
  10. tear — to rip
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. net — in sport
  13. wound — an injury
  14. court — of a king
  15. wound — an injury
  16. plane — a tool
  17. row — a line
  18. ground — crushed
  19. row — to paddle
  20. ground — a position
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. tear — from crying
  23. ground — the earth
  24. net — for catching

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