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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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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: court · field · chair · mouse · march · content · branch · kick

  1. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  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. kick — in football
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. branch — a division
  4. field — a subject
  5. court — for sport
  6. march — the month
  7. content — happy
  8. field — for sport
  9. field — farmland
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. court — of a king
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. march — the month
  17. content — the amount
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. court — of law
  21. march — music
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. chair — a leader
  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