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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.

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: ground · tube · coach · net · court · kid · chair · wax

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. chair — a leader
  5. tube — a container
  6. court — of law
  7. kid — to tease
  8. net — for catching
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. wax — to grow
  13. ground — the earth
  14. ground — a position
  15. court — for sport
  16. tube — the underground
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. kid — child
  20. net — in sport
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. court — of a king
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. ground — crushed

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