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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. land — to come down
  5. stock — shares
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. court — of a king
  10. stock — goods
  11. club — a group
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. club — for golf
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. land — a country
  18. sharp — clever
  19. bat — the animal
  20. land — ground
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. court — for sport
  23. court — of law
  24. club — for dancing

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