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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: cell · chair · ball · court · key · land · band · chest

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Hard work is the ________________ to success.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. key — for a lock
  3. ball — a dance
  4. chair — a leader
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. court — of law
  8. cell — a phone
  9. chest — of your body
  10. land — ground
  11. court — for sport
  12. court — of a king
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. cell — in biology
  15. land — a country
  16. key — in music
  17. band — a music group
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. chest — of your body
  20. land — to come down
  21. ball — a great time
  22. band — a ring
  23. chest — a box
  24. key — the most important part

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