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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 120 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: hide · court · wax · racket · file · straw · chair · rock

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. rock — music
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. file — a line of people
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. file — a document
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. wax — to grow
  14. court — of a king
  15. court — for sport
  16. court — of law
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. chair — a leader
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. rock — a stone
  24. file — a tool

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