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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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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 · race · last · court · saw · bat · wax · pound

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. last — finally
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. court — of a king
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. last — final
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. saw — the tool
  11. pound — a weight
  12. race — the arms race
  13. wax — to grow
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. chair — a leader
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. last — to go on
  18. court — of law
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. race — humankind
  21. saw — the tool
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. court — for sport
  24. bat — the animal

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