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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. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. bound — tied together
  3. cold — not warm
  4. face — to point toward
  5. bound — certain
  6. kid — child
  7. spring — of water
  8. stem — to come from
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. face — to confront
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. chair — a leader
  16. bound — obliged
  17. spring — the season
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. face — part of the head
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. kid — to tease
  22. cold — an illness
  23. spring — a coil
  24. fan — a supporter

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