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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: hide · court · march · ground · board · chair · field · kid

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. kid — to tease
  3. field — for sport
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. court — of law
  6. board — a committee
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. board — a flat piece
  9. march — music
  10. chair — a leader
  11. ground — crushed
  12. march — the month
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. kid — child
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. board — to get on
  18. field — a subject
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. ground — the earth
  21. march — the month
  22. ground — a position
  23. field — farmland
  24. court — for sport

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