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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. chair — a leader
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. game — wild animals
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. ground — a position
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. game — a match
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. plane — a tool
  16. snap — to click
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. ground — crushed
  19. spring — the season
  20. spring — of water
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. ground — the earth
  23. scale — size or range
  24. scale — in music

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