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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. The ________________ took off on time.
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. chair — a leader
  4. fall — the season
  5. craft — a handicraft
  6. court — for sport
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. fall — to drop
  10. fall — to drop
  11. scale — size or range
  12. plane — an aircraft
  13. press — to push
  14. court — of law
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. press — a publisher
  17. content — the amount
  18. craft — boats
  19. plane — a tool
  20. craft — a skill
  21. court — of a king
  22. scale — in music
  23. press — newspapers
  24. content — videos and posts

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