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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 · bulb · chair · roll · bat · field · shower · trunk

  1. The light ________________ burned out.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. I've got to change the light ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. bulb — for light
  4. shower — to wash
  5. shower — rain
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. field — for sport
  8. court — for sport
  9. field — farmland
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. court — of a king
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. bat — the animal
  15. roll — a cake
  16. roll — a list
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. chair — a leader
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. field — a subject
  22. bulb — of a plant
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. court — of law

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