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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 120 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: court · chair · wake · club · sharp · bark · stock · hand

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. court — of a king
  3. stock — goods
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. sharp — clever
  6. stock — shares
  7. wake — a trail
  8. bark — to shout
  9. club — a group
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. court — of law
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. hand — in cards
  14. hand — help
  15. club — for golf
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. club — for dancing
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. court — for sport
  20. chair — a leader
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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