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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: wound · chest · swing · field · ground · jam · squash · capital

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  12. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. field — farmland
  3. field — a subject
  4. jam — a tight spot
  5. capital — money
  6. chest — of your body
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. ground — crushed
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. squash — the sport
  11. jam — to spread on bread
  12. jam — in traffic
  13. swing — in golf
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. chest — a box
  16. capital — a city
  17. swing — to play on
  18. swing — music
  19. ground — a position
  20. ground — the earth
  21. squash — to crush
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — an injury
  24. chest — of your body

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