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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: band · roll · content · court · shower · stick · pitch · chair

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. chair — a leader
  4. court — of a king
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. content — happy
  7. court — for sport
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. content — the amount
  11. band — a music group
  12. pitch — completely
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. roll — a list
  15. roll — a cake
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. band — a ring
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — to wash
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. stick — to attach or keep to

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