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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. stem — to come from
  7. temple — side of the head
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. tube — a container
  12. chair — a leader
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. tube — the underground
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. sharp — clever
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. tube — in a tire

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