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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: court · snap · tear · squash · saw · field · shower · swing

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. saw — past of 'see'
  3. field — for sport
  4. field — farmland
  5. court — for sport
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. tear — from crying
  9. squash — to crush
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. court — of law
  12. shower — to wash
  13. court — of a king
  14. shower — rain
  15. snap — to click
  16. swing — to play on
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. swing — in golf
  19. saw — the tool
  20. squash — the sport
  21. tear — from crying
  22. saw — the tool
  23. swing — music
  24. tear — to rip

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