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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. I can't ________________ this cold.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. row — a line
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. stand — to bear
  5. fall — the season
  6. kid — child
  7. stand — for spectators
  8. clip — to cut
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. ground — crushed
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. date — the fruit
  13. chair — a leader
  14. ground — the earth
  15. ground — a position
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. clip — a video
  18. fall — to drop
  19. clip — for paper
  20. row — to paddle
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. stand — on your feet
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. fall — to drop

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