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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 116 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: band · field · firm · wake · tear · court · chair · deal

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. firm — decided
  3. court — of law
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. tear — to rip
  6. chair — a leader
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. band — a music group
  9. band — a ring
  10. court — of a king
  11. court — for sport
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. deal — to handle
  15. tear — from crying
  16. field — for sport
  17. tear — from crying
  18. firm — a company
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. field — a subject
  21. firm — steady
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. deal — an agreement
  24. wake — a trail

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