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

Word bank: court · present · wound · ground · kick · field · fork · mine

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. ground — the earth
  3. ground — a position
  4. present — the time now
  5. court — for sport
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. fork — in a road
  8. field — a subject
  9. wound — an injury
  10. field — farmland
  11. present — there
  12. wound — an injury
  13. present — a gift
  14. ground — crushed
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. field — for sport
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. mine — for digging
  20. kick — in football
  21. court — of a king
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. court — of law

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