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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 got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. fine — a penalty
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. craft — boats
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. stem — to come from
  10. cold — not warm
  11. fine — all right
  12. sharp — clever
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. spring — of water
  15. fine — high quality
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. cold — an illness
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. craft — a skill
  20. spring — a coil
  21. spring — the season
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. fork — in a road

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