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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: arm · tear · court · march · field · stock · cap · chair

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  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. field — for sport
  2. tear — from crying
  3. tear — from crying
  4. field — farmland
  5. court — of a king
  6. march — the month
  7. cap — of ice
  8. cap — a hat
  9. cap — a lid
  10. stock — goods
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. stock — shares
  13. chair — a leader
  14. court — for sport
  15. court — of law
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. field — a subject
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. march — the month
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. march — music
  23. tear — to rip
  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