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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 · ground · craft · field · chest · clip · cap · track

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. clip — to cut
  3. craft — boats
  4. chest — of your body
  5. court — of law
  6. clip — for paper
  7. court — of a king
  8. track — a path
  9. craft — a skill
  10. clip — a video
  11. field — a subject
  12. cap — a lid
  13. field — for sport
  14. ground — crushed
  15. cap — of ice
  16. chest — a box
  17. track — a song
  18. cap — a hat
  19. court — for sport
  20. ground — the earth
  21. chest — of your body
  22. ground — a position
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. track — to keep track

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