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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. march — the month
  4. pop — music
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cold — not warm
  7. march — the month
  8. band — a music group
  9. ground — the earth
  10. ground — crushed
  11. band — a ring
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. wound — an injury
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. pop — to visit
  17. march — music
  18. rock — a stone
  19. rock — music
  20. wound — an injury
  21. ground — a position
  22. pop — soda
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. chair — a professorship

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