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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: kick · field · straw · cue · suit · shower · chair · court

  1. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. When will it ________________ you to start?
  20. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — in cards
  2. cue — a hint
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. shower — rain
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. field — farmland
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. shower — to wash
  10. cue — for pool
  11. court — for sport
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. field — for sport
  14. court — of law
  15. court — of a king
  16. suit — clothes
  17. chair — a leader
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. suit — to fit
  20. cue — a signal
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. field — a subject
  24. kick — in football

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