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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 120 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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  19. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. net — after costs
  3. court — of law
  4. file — a tool
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. net — in sport
  7. land — to come down
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. rest — what's left
  10. net — for catching
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. court — for sport
  13. rest — a break
  14. capital — a city
  15. capital — money
  16. rest — what's left
  17. land — ground
  18. firm — decided
  19. firm — a company
  20. court — of a king
  21. firm — steady
  22. file — a document
  23. file — a line of people
  24. land — a country

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