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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: race · rule · court · fork · spring · rest · land · chair

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. spring — of water
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. spring — a coil
  5. land — a country
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. rule — a law
  9. race — humankind
  10. rest — a break
  11. land — ground
  12. race — the arms race
  13. rule — government
  14. court — for sport
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. land — to come down
  17. rest — what's left
  18. court — of law
  19. rest — what's left
  20. chair — a leader
  21. spring — the season
  22. race — a contest
  23. court — of a king
  24. fork — in a road

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