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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: row · court · sharp · kick · chest · wound · squash · field

  1. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. sharp — clever
  3. court — of a king
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. court — for sport
  7. row — to paddle
  8. field — farmland
  9. chest — a box
  10. chest — of your body
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. squash — the sport
  14. wound — an injury
  15. field — for sport
  16. chest — of your body
  17. field — a subject
  18. kick — in football
  19. wound — an injury
  20. row — a line
  21. squash — to crush
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. court — of law
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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