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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: field · bat · court · shower · pop · mug · pound · leaves

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. Where did you ________________ them?
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. He refilled his coffee ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. court — of a king
  3. shower — to wash
  4. pound — a weight
  5. court — for sport
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. court — of law
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. pop — to visit
  12. leaves — to go away
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. pop — music
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. field — for sport
  17. mug — a face
  18. pop — soda
  19. field — a subject
  20. field — farmland
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. mug — to rob
  23. shower — rain
  24. mug — a cup

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