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

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. field — a subject
  3. cell — in biology
  4. row — a line
  5. field — for sport
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. spring — of water
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. spring — a coil
  10. spring — the season
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. foot — a measure
  13. row — to paddle
  14. cell — a phone
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. field — farmland

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