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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: court · season · date · chair · bear · stand · degree · cell

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. I can't ________________ this cold.
  22. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. cell — in biology
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. court — of law
  6. date — the fruit
  7. bear — the animal
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. degree — temperature
  11. court — for sport
  12. court — of a king
  13. bear — the animal
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. season — of the year
  16. degree — from a university
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. cell — a phone
  20. degree — an amount
  21. stand — to bear
  22. stand — for spectators
  23. season — in sport
  24. date — on the calendar

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