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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. net — in sport
  4. drill — a practice
  5. ground — crushed
  6. bat — the animal
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. rush — hurry
  10. fine — high quality
  11. ground — a position
  12. ground — the earth
  13. net — for catching
  14. drill — army training
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. fine — all right
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. drill — the tool
  20. kid — child
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. net — after costs
  23. chair — a leader
  24. bat — in an idiom

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