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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. cold — an illness
  4. pop — soda
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. mate — to breed
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. tear — to rip
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. chair — a leader
  12. mate — a friend
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. mate — a partner
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. cell — a phone
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — from crying
  21. coach — pulled by horses
  22. cell — in biology
  23. pop — music
  24. kick — in football

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