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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 120 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: prune · ground · court · bass · can · content · chair · rash

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  9. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. content — happy
  3. court — for sport
  4. chair — a leader
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. bass — the fish
  8. can — a tin
  9. can — a tin
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. prune — to trim
  12. court — of law
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. rash — hasty
  15. prune — to trim
  16. ground — a position
  17. bass — low music
  18. can — to be able to
  19. ground — crushed
  20. ground — the earth
  21. court — of a king
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. rash — a series

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