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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 · ball · snap · field · net · tear · chest · ruler

  1. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  12. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. field — for sport
  4. ruler — for measuring
  5. court — for sport
  6. tear — from crying
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. ball — a great time
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. ball — a dance
  11. ruler — a monarch
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. chest — a box
  14. court — of a king
  15. field — a subject
  16. chest — of your body
  17. net — after costs
  18. tear — from crying
  19. chest — of your body
  20. tear — to rip
  21. snap — to click
  22. net — in sport
  23. court — of law
  24. field — farmland

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