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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. march — the month
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. chair — a leader
  7. march — music
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. cold — not warm
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. cold — an illness
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. court — of law
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. stock — shares
  17. court — of a king
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. march — the month
  20. stock — goods
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. lie — to recline
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. fork — in a road

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