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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Where did you ________________ them?
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a cup
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. capital — money
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. cell — a phone
  7. cold — not warm
  8. chair — a leader
  9. cold — an illness
  10. net — after costs
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. cell — in biology
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. capital — a city
  15. mug — to rob
  16. net — for catching
  17. mug — a face
  18. net — in 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