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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. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — a law
  2. court — for sport
  3. field — a subject
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. clip — a video
  7. field — for sport
  8. face — to confront
  9. field — farmland
  10. chair — a leader
  11. rule — government
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. face — part of the head
  14. court — of a king
  15. net — for catching
  16. clip — for paper
  17. net — after costs
  18. face — to point toward
  19. lean — thin
  20. court — of law
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. lean — to bend
  23. clip — to cut
  24. net — in sport

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