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

Word bank: board · cold · chair · kid · court · rule

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. chair — a leader
  3. kid — child
  4. kid — to tease
  5. court — of law
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. rule — a law
  8. rule — government
  9. board — a flat piece
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. court — of a king
  12. board — a committee
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cold — not warm
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. board — to get on

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