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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. chair — a leader
  5. kid — child
  6. cold — an illness
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. wax — to grow
  9. field — a subject
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. field — farmland
  12. court — of a king
  13. court — for sport
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. kid — to tease
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — not warm
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. pound — a weight
  24. field — for sport

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