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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. squash — the sport
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. row — a line
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. chair — a leader
  9. plane — a tool
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. squash — to crush
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. saw — the tool
  14. band — a ring
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. bat — the animal
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. band — a music group
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. row — to paddle
  24. trunk — of a tree

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