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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  11. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. clip — for paper
  3. shower — to wash
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. branch — a division
  6. court — for sport
  7. court — of law
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. safe — out of danger
  11. safe — a strongbox
  12. clip — to cut
  13. clip — a video
  14. shower — rain
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. court — of a king
  19. net — for catching
  20. net — after costs
  21. net — in sport
  22. mine — for digging
  23. safe — out of danger
  24. chair — a professorship

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