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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: chair · racket · pound · rush · branch · tube · court · cold

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. cold — an illness
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. cold — not warm
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. court — of a king
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. pound — a weight
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. tube — the underground
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. rush — hurry
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. tube — a container
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. court — for sport
  22. branch — a division
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. court — of law

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