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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 · chair · straw · ruler · content · ground · mine · mark

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. chair — a leader
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. ruler — a monarch
  7. mine — for digging
  8. mark — to pay attention
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. ruler — for measuring
  11. ground — the earth
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. content — the amount
  15. mark — a trace
  16. court — of law
  17. mark — a grade
  18. content — happy
  19. court — for sport
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. ground — crushed
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. ground — a position
  24. court — of a king

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