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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. spring — a coil
  3. capital — money
  4. swing — in golf
  5. pass — to spend time
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. spring — of water
  8. spring — the season
  9. mate — a partner
  10. swing — to play on
  11. pass — a permit
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. mate — a friend
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. mine — for digging
  16. swing — music
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. mate — to breed
  20. capital — a city
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. pass — to succeed
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. bat — the animal

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