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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 116 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: wave · mine · ball · wind · snap · field · cold · court

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. cold — not warm
  3. court — of law
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. ball — a great time
  6. field — farmland
  7. court — of a king
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. court — for sport
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. ball — a dance
  13. field — for sport
  14. field — a subject
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. wind — moving air
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. wind — moving air
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. snap — to click
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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