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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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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: shower · court · race · kid · content · tube · wake · chair

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  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. content — happy
  2. race — the arms race
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. court — of law
  6. court — for sport
  7. tube — a container
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. court — of a king
  10. content — the amount
  11. tube — the underground
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. race — a contest
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. chair — a leader
  16. wake — a trail
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. kid — to tease
  19. shower — rain
  20. race — humankind
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. kid — child
  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