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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. ball — a great time
  5. branch — a division
  6. spell — letters
  7. court — for sport
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. court — of a king
  10. cap — a lid
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. band — a ring
  13. spell — a short time
  14. chair — a leader
  15. cap — of ice
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. band — a music group
  18. kid — child
  19. kid — to tease
  20. court — of law
  21. ball — a dance
  22. spell — magic
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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