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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. field — for sport
  3. court — of a king
  4. band — a music group
  5. tear — to rip
  6. band — a ring
  7. march — the month
  8. field — a subject
  9. mate — a partner
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — from crying
  12. court — of law
  13. mate — a friend
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. march — music
  18. march — the month
  19. court — for sport
  20. field — farmland
  21. mate — to breed
  22. chair — a leader
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bat — the animal

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