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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: hand · pitcher · degree · fan · chair · court · wake · rule

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  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. chair — a leader
  2. degree — from a university
  3. court — of a king
  4. hand — help
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. degree — an amount
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. degree — temperature
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. court — for sport
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. fan — to cool the air
  17. hand — in cards
  18. rule — a law
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. rule — government
  21. wake — a trail
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. pitcher — a jug
  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