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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. key — for a lock
  3. chair — a leader
  4. fall — to drop
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — not warm
  7. staff — a stick
  8. key — the most important part
  9. fall — the season
  10. tear — to rip
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. key — in music
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. fall — to drop
  15. staff — employees
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. rock — a stone
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. wake — a trail
  21. rock — music
  22. cold — an illness
  23. tear — from crying
  24. tear — from crying

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