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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: court · face · season · calf · band · bark · squash · bat

  1. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  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. squash — the sport
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. squash — to crush
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. face — to confront
  6. face — part of the head
  7. bark — to shout
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. season — in sport
  11. band — a ring
  12. calf — of the leg
  13. band — a music group
  14. court — for sport
  15. bat — the animal
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. face — to point toward
  22. court — of a king
  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