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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: chair · stick · court · clip · march · net · race · kick

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. march — the month
  3. court — of a king
  4. clip — a video
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. net — in sport
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. net — for catching
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. court — for sport
  11. march — music
  12. court — of law
  13. clip — to cut
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. kick — in football
  17. chair — a leader
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. race — humankind
  20. race — a contest
  21. clip — for paper
  22. march — the month
  23. race — the arms race
  24. chair — to sit on

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