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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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. drill — army training
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. squash — to crush
  6. face — part of the head
  7. chair — a leader
  8. face — to confront
  9. land — to come down
  10. land — a country
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. root — of a word
  13. face — to point toward
  14. court — of law
  15. prune — to trim
  16. court — of a king
  17. prune — to trim
  18. drill — the tool
  19. land — ground
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. root — of a plant
  22. root — the cause
  23. squash — the sport
  24. drill — a practice

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