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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: tear · bulb · content · chair · lie · land · rash · court

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. The light ________________ burned out.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. I've got to change the light ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. land — a country
  3. chair — a leader
  4. land — to come down
  5. court — of law
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. tear — to rip
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. court — for sport
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. tear — from crying
  12. court — of a king
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. rash — hasty
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. bulb — of a plant
  17. content — the amount
  18. bulb — for light
  19. tear — from crying
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. rash — a series
  22. lie — to recline
  23. bulb — for light
  24. land — ground

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