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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 · tube · swing · kid · squash · march · last · field

  1. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. tube — a container
  3. tube — the underground
  4. last — to go on
  5. last — final
  6. march — the month
  7. squash — to crush
  8. swing — to play on
  9. court — for sport
  10. squash — the sport
  11. field — for sport
  12. court — of a king
  13. kid — child
  14. court — of law
  15. march — music
  16. last — finally
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. field — farmland
  19. swing — music
  20. swing — in golf
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. kid — to tease
  23. field — a subject
  24. tube — in a tire

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