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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: season · chest · track · rash · court · fall · land · saw

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. saw — the tool
  3. chest — of your body
  4. land — to come down
  5. track — a song
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. land — a country
  8. saw — the tool
  9. fall — the season
  10. season — in sport
  11. fall — to drop
  12. chest — of your body
  13. rash — hasty
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. rash — a series
  16. fall — to drop
  17. court — of a king
  18. court — for sport
  19. chest — a box
  20. land — ground
  21. track — a path
  22. track — to keep track
  23. court — of law
  24. season — of the year

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