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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.

Make a worksheet

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
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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 · content · lie · land · last · court · squash · wound

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. content — happy
  4. wound — an injury
  5. land — to come down
  6. court — of law
  7. chair — a leader
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. content — the amount
  11. court — for sport
  12. squash — the sport
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. wound — an injury
  15. last — to go on
  16. land — ground
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. last — finally
  20. last — final
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. lie — to recline
  23. squash — to crush
  24. land — a country

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