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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: court · perch · chair · pitch · cold · press · root · content

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. press — a publisher
  4. cold — an illness
  5. root — the cause
  6. court — for sport
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. court — of law
  9. root — of a word
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. chair — a leader
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. pitch — completely
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. perch — the fish
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. press — newspapers
  18. court — of a king
  19. press — to push
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. content — happy
  23. root — of a plant
  24. cold — not warm

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