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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: court · chair · wind · bat · hide · trunk · last · field

  1. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. field — farmland
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. last — to go on
  8. wind — moving air
  9. field — for sport
  10. court — of a king
  11. last — finally
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. field — a subject
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. wind — moving air
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. bat — the animal
  19. chair — a leader
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. last — final
  23. court — for sport
  24. court — of law

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