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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: rest · net · court · band · ball · field · content · bat

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. court — of law
  3. band — a music group
  4. field — for sport
  5. court — of a king
  6. content — the amount
  7. ball — a dance
  8. net — for catching
  9. band — a ring
  10. field — farmland
  11. net — in sport
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. court — for sport
  14. rest — what's left
  15. rest — what's left
  16. rest — a break
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. field — a subject
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. content — happy
  21. ball — a great time
  22. net — after costs
  23. bat — the animal
  24. content — videos and posts

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