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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 · court · mug · season · perch · hand · spring · tube

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. Where did you ________________ them?
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. court — for sport
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. hand — in cards
  5. tube — the underground
  6. mug — a cup
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. field — for sport
  9. spring — the season
  10. court — of a king
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. mug — to rob
  13. spring — of water
  14. tube — a container
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. hand — help
  18. mug — a face
  19. court — of law
  20. perch — the fish
  21. season — of the year
  22. field — a subject
  23. field — farmland
  24. season — in sport

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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