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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 120 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 · field · wake · wind · hand · deal · net · prune

  1. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. wind — moving air
  5. net — for catching
  6. prune — to trim
  7. net — in sport
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. wake — a trail
  10. court — for sport
  11. court — of a king
  12. field — farmland
  13. deal — to handle
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. hand — help
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. wind — moving air
  18. hand — in cards
  19. court — of law
  20. net — after costs
  21. field — a subject
  22. prune — to trim
  23. field — for sport
  24. deal — an agreement

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