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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: field · chest · wave · object · kick · wind · court · bass

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  21. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. kick — in football
  3. object — to protest
  4. wave — a sudden rise
  5. court — of law
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. field — a subject
  8. object — an aim
  9. chest — of your body
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. court — of a king
  12. bass — the fish
  13. wind — moving air
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. wind — moving air
  16. chest — of your body
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. field — for sport
  19. chest — a box
  20. wave — with your hand
  21. wave — of the sea
  22. bass — low music
  23. field — farmland
  24. object — a thing

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