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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.

Words on the sheet
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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 · net · scale · cold · race · temple · rush · chair

  1. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. race — humankind
  3. cold — an illness
  4. scale — size or range
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. rush — hurry
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. net — after costs
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. scale — in music
  12. court — for sport
  13. chair — a leader
  14. court — of a king
  15. race — the arms race
  16. race — a contest
  17. court — of law
  18. net — for catching
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. net — in sport
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. cold — not warm
  24. temple — side of the head

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