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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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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: court · fall · field · clip · pound · board · rush · pitcher

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. pound — a weight
  4. court — for sport
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. field — for sport
  7. court — of law
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. clip — to cut
  10. clip — for paper
  11. field — a subject
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. board — a flat piece
  14. rush — hurry
  15. clip — a video
  16. fall — to drop
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. field — farmland
  19. fall — the season
  20. board — a committee
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. court — of a king
  24. board — to get on

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