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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: field · rush · clip · spell · object · court · squash · wound

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. field — farmland
  3. object — to protest
  4. wound — an injury
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. squash — the sport
  7. spell — magic
  8. object — a thing
  9. court — of law
  10. clip — for paper
  11. field — for sport
  12. wound — an injury
  13. court — for sport
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. squash — to crush
  16. spell — letters
  17. object — an aim
  18. spell — a short time
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. court — of a king
  21. field — a subject
  22. clip — to cut
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. clip — a video

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