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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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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: arm · court · clip · chair · ball · current · field · can

  1. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. can — to be able to
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. ball — a great time
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. field — a subject
  8. court — for sport
  9. can — a tin
  10. ball — a dance
  11. clip — a video
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. court — of a king
  14. can — a tin
  15. clip — for paper
  16. chair — a leader
  17. clip — to cut
  18. field — farmland
  19. field — for sport
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. current — happening now
  22. current — of water
  23. current — electric
  24. court — of law

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