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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: game · file · tear · court · chair · rule

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. rule — a law
  3. court — of law
  4. chair — a leader
  5. file — a tool
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. file — a line of people
  10. rule — government
  11. court — of a king
  12. game — wild animals
  13. tear — from crying
  14. court — for sport
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. file — a document
  17. tear — from crying
  18. tear — to rip

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