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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. court — for sport
  4. court — of law
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. scale — in music
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. hand — help
  9. net — after costs
  10. chair — a leader
  11. net — for catching
  12. court — of a king
  13. spring — the season
  14. hand — in cards
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. racket — a loud noise
  19. net — in sport
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. spring — a coil
  22. scale — size or range
  23. spring — of water
  24. racket — for tennis

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