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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. hand — help
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. roll — a list
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. mine — for digging
  10. pound — a weight
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. court — of a king
  14. roll — a cake
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. hand — in cards
  19. band — a ring
  20. court — of law
  21. band — a music group
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. court — for sport
  24. chair — to sit on

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