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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: chair · file · leaves · ground · wind · court · band · root

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. wind — moving air
  3. court — for sport
  4. ground — a position
  5. chair — a leader
  6. band — a ring
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. file — a line of people
  9. file — a document
  10. court — of law
  11. ground — crushed
  12. root — the cause
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. ground — the earth
  16. file — a tool
  17. root — of a word
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. court — of a king
  21. wind — moving air
  22. band — a music group
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. root — of a plant

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