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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. last — final
  5. march — the month
  6. last — to go on
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. staff — employees
  9. cold — an illness
  10. last — finally
  11. track — a song
  12. staff — employees
  13. march — music
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. staff — a stick
  16. cold — not warm
  17. file — a document
  18. wake — a trail
  19. file — a line of people
  20. march — the month
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. track — to keep track
  23. file — a tool
  24. track — a path

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