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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 120 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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. cap — a hat
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. fork — in a road
  5. race — the arms race
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — a video
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. game — wild animals
  14. cap — a lid
  15. cold — an illness
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. game — a match
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. race — humankind
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. clip — for paper
  23. race — a contest
  24. cap — of ice

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