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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 · racket · race · rest · saw · snap · field · spell

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. field — for sport
  4. court — of a king
  5. court — for sport
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. rest — a break
  8. race — humankind
  9. saw — the tool
  10. spell — a short time
  11. court — of law
  12. race — a contest
  13. saw — the tool
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. spell — letters
  16. rest — what's left
  17. snap — to click
  18. rest — what's left
  19. field — a subject
  20. spell — magic
  21. field — farmland
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. racket — a loud noise
  24. race — the arms race

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