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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: field · saw · wind · capital · court · chair · bark · chest

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  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. court — of law
  2. saw — the tool
  3. court — of a king
  4. field — a subject
  5. saw — the tool
  6. chair — a leader
  7. capital — money
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. chest — of your body
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. field — farmland
  15. wind — moving air
  16. capital — a city
  17. bark — to shout
  18. chest — of your body
  19. court — for sport
  20. chest — a box
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. field — for sport
  23. wind — moving air
  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