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

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. chair — a leader
  3. file — a document
  4. file — a line of people
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. season — in sport
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. file — a tool
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. court — of a king
  17. season — of the year
  18. court — for sport
  19. row — a line
  20. row — to paddle
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. bat — the animal
  24. bark — to shout

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