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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. wave — a sudden rise
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. race — humankind
  8. season — in sport
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. season — of the year
  11. hand — in cards
  12. row — a line
  13. saw — the tool
  14. race — a contest
  15. hand — help
  16. race — the arms race
  17. row — to paddle
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. chair — a leader
  21. wind — moving air
  22. wave — of the sea
  23. wind — moving air
  24. row — a quarrel

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