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

Word bank: chair · club · field · cold · court · row · trunk · suit

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  12. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. When will it ________________ you to start?
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. chair — a leader
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. field — for sport
  6. cold — an illness
  7. club — a group
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. court — of law
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. suit — in cards
  12. suit — clothes
  13. court — for sport
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. row — a line
  16. field — a subject
  17. club — for dancing
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. suit — to fit
  20. row — to paddle
  21. field — farmland
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. cold — not warm
  24. club — for golf

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