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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 124 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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. field — farmland
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. capital — money
  5. capital — a city
  6. bore — to drill
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. squash — to crush
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. field — a subject
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. season — of the year
  16. chair — a leader
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. bore — to tire
  19. squash — the sport
  20. perch — the fish
  21. field — for sport
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. deal — to handle
  24. season — in sport

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