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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. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. game — wild animals
  4. bank — of a river
  5. prune — to trim
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. net — after costs
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. chair — a leader
  10. net — in sport
  11. net — for catching
  12. row — to paddle
  13. bank — for money
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. court — for sport
  17. court — of law
  18. prune — to trim
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. game — a match
  21. bank — for money
  22. court — of a king
  23. row — a line
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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