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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. foot — part of the body
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. face — part of the head
  6. clip — a video
  7. file — a line of people
  8. clip — for paper
  9. chair — a leader
  10. bark — to shout
  11. bat — the animal
  12. squash — to crush
  13. foot — a measure
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. face — to point toward
  17. file — a document
  18. face — to confront
  19. clip — to cut
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. file — a tool
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. squash — the sport
  24. squash — the vegetable

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