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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: toast · ball · field · ground · roll · court · cell · pitcher

  1. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. court — for sport
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. ground — a position
  5. toast — the most admired
  6. cell — in biology
  7. cell — a phone
  8. ball — a great time
  9. field — farmland
  10. roll — a list
  11. roll — a cake
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. ground — crushed
  16. court — of law
  17. toast — a drink to someone
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. field — a subject
  20. ball — a dance
  21. field — for sport
  22. ground — the earth
  23. court — of a king
  24. pitcher — a jug

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