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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 120 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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. spring — a coil
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. last — to go on
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. fall — the season
  7. spring — of water
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. spring — the season
  13. fall — to drop
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. last — finally
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. clip — to cut
  18. calf — of the leg
  19. chair — a leader
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. last — final
  22. fall — to drop
  23. clip — for paper
  24. clip — a video

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