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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 · date · kid · wind · court · band · firm · stand

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. field — farmland
  3. court — of law
  4. band — a ring
  5. field — a subject
  6. date — the fruit
  7. field — for sport
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. kid — to tease
  10. wind — moving air
  11. band — a music group
  12. firm — a company
  13. court — of a king
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. stand — to bear
  16. stand — on your feet
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. firm — steady
  19. wind — moving air
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. kid — child
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. firm — decided
  24. band — a rubber band

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