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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 116 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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. chair — a leader
  3. cue — a hint
  4. file — a document
  5. land — to come down
  6. land — ground
  7. file — a line of people
  8. bass — the fish
  9. content — happy
  10. land — a country
  11. content — the amount
  12. fall — the season
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. fall — to drop
  16. swing — music
  17. cue — a signal
  18. bass — low music
  19. swing — to play on
  20. fall — to drop
  21. cue — for pool
  22. swing — in golf
  23. file — a tool
  24. content — videos and posts

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