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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: chair · mine · craft · kid · march · court · shower · bass

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. craft — boats
  3. bass — low music
  4. mine — for digging
  5. kid — to tease
  6. march — music
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. march — the month
  9. court — of a king
  10. court — for sport
  11. chair — a leader
  12. march — the month
  13. court — of law
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. shower — rain
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. bass — the fish
  22. craft — a skill
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. shower — to wash

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