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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. clip — for paper
  5. season — in sport
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. cabinet — a cupboard
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. clip — a video
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. row — a line
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. wind — moving air
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. clip — to cut
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. season — of the year
  23. wind — moving air
  24. row — to paddle

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