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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 116 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 muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  21. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. track — to keep track
  3. court — for sport
  4. firm — a company
  5. court — of a king
  6. scale — in music
  7. cold — not warm
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. scale — size or range
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. file — a document
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — an illness
  17. court — of law
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. file — a tool
  20. firm — decided
  21. firm — steady
  22. chair — a leader
  23. file — a line of people
  24. track — a song

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