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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. root — the cause
  4. band — a music group
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. last — finally
  7. spring — of water
  8. chair — a leader
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. last — final
  12. spring — a coil
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. spring — the season
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. last — to go on
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. band — a ring
  19. root — of a plant
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. court — of law
  22. mine — for digging
  23. court — of a king
  24. root — of a word

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