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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: capital · court · kick · bark · chair · bear · mate · content

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. court — of a king
  3. mate — a partner
  4. mate — a friend
  5. court — for sport
  6. content — happy
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. court — of law
  9. bear — the animal
  10. mate — to breed
  11. capital — money
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. capital — a city
  18. chair — a leader
  19. bark — to shout
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. bear — the animal
  22. kick — in football
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. content — videos and posts

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