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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
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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: game · chair · spring · court · kid · lean · net · date

  1. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. court — of law
  3. net — in sport
  4. lean — to bend
  5. date — the fruit
  6. game — wild animals
  7. kid — child
  8. spring — the season
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. spring — of water
  12. lean — thin
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. net — for catching
  15. court — of a king
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. game — a match
  18. court — for sport
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. spring — a coil
  21. kid — to tease
  22. chair — a leader
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. net — after costs

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