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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 · object · present · mate · field · wind · court · rest

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. present — there
  3. chair — a leader
  4. wind — moving air
  5. court — of law
  6. field — a subject
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. mate — to breed
  10. mate — a friend
  11. rest — what's left
  12. object — to protest
  13. object — a thing
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. field — for sport
  16. present — a gift
  17. court — of a king
  18. rest — a break
  19. mate — a partner
  20. wind — moving air
  21. present — the time now
  22. object — an aim
  23. field — farmland
  24. rest — what's left

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