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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. chair — a leader
  3. pop — to visit
  4. land — a country
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. fork — in a road
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. pop — soda
  9. field — a subject
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. field — for sport
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. field — farmland
  14. pop — music
  15. capital — a city
  16. temple — side of the head
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. land — to come down
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. land — ground
  21. capital — money
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. mine — for digging

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