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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. chair — a leader
  3. cold — an illness
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. scale — in music
  6. spell — letters
  7. mark — a trace
  8. spell — magic
  9. scale — size or range
  10. cold — not warm
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. mark — a grade
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. fine — high quality
  16. fine — all right
  17. spell — a short time
  18. fine — a penalty

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