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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. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. chest — a box
  5. fall — to drop
  6. fall — the season
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. drill — army training
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. bat — the animal
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. fall — to drop
  14. chest — of your body
  15. stock — goods
  16. drill — the tool
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. stock — shares
  19. chest — of your body
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. date — the fruit
  22. pound — a weight
  23. drill — a practice
  24. stock — a soup base

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