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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 120 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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: chair · pitcher · press · mine · board · cold · court · chest

  1. He is an ace ________________.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. cold — an illness
  4. press — a publisher
  5. court — of a king
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. cold — not warm
  8. chest — of your body
  9. court — of law
  10. mine — for digging
  11. press — to push
  12. chair — a leader
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. press — newspapers
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. chest — of your body
  17. chest — a box
  18. board — to get on
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. court — for sport
  24. board — a committee

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