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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: spring · track · field · stock · saw · chest · court · chair

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. court — for sport
  3. court — of a king
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. stock — goods
  6. chest — of your body
  7. spring — of water
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. field — for sport
  10. stock — shares
  11. spring — the season
  12. saw — the tool
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. field — a subject
  15. track — to keep track
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. chest — of your body
  18. court — of law
  19. chest — a box
  20. saw — the tool
  21. spring — a coil
  22. track — a song
  23. track — a path
  24. field — farmland

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