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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. content — happy
  3. court — of law
  4. spring — of water
  5. track — a path
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. spring — a coil
  8. chair — a leader
  9. fork — in a road
  10. track — to keep track
  11. spring — the season
  12. court — of a king
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. cell — a phone
  15. court — for sport
  16. racket — a loud noise
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. track — a song
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. cell — in biology
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. content — the amount

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