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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: chair · cold · patient · wake · court · fork · object · racket

  1. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. court — of a king
  3. chair — a leader
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. cold — an illness
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. cold — not warm
  11. racket — a loud noise
  12. court — of law
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. fork — in a road
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. object — an aim
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. court — for sport
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. wake — a trail
  24. object — a thing

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