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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 · court · net · bay · content · snap · tear · race

  1. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. My mare is ________________ in color.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. bay — a horse colour
  3. court — of a king
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. chair — a leader
  7. net — for catching
  8. net — in sport
  9. tear — from crying
  10. court — for sport
  11. net — after costs
  12. tear — to rip
  13. race — humankind
  14. snap — to click
  15. race — a contest
  16. tear — from crying
  17. court — of law
  18. bay — a part of the sea
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. content — happy
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. race — the arms race
  23. bay — to keep at bay
  24. content — the amount

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