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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. staff — employees
  3. march — the month
  4. march — the month
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. wound — an injury
  8. game — wild animals
  9. march — music
  10. wound — an injury
  11. scale — in music
  12. scale — size or range
  13. row — a line
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. chip — to eat
  16. chip — for betting
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. row — to paddle
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. staff — a stick
  21. staff — employees
  22. chair — a leader
  23. game — a match
  24. scale — for weighing

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