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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: kid · face · pop · drill · ball · field · court · game

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. face — to point toward
  3. drill — army training
  4. pop — to visit
  5. ball — a dance
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. field — farmland
  8. court — of law
  9. field — for sport
  10. game — wild animals
  11. face — to confront
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. pop — soda
  14. court — for sport
  15. ball — a great time
  16. game — a match
  17. drill — the tool
  18. court — of a king
  19. kid — child
  20. field — a subject
  21. drill — a practice
  22. face — part of the head
  23. pop — music
  24. game — a kind of play

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