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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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. bat — the animal
  3. march — the month
  4. chair — a leader
  5. mate — a friend
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. mate — a partner
  8. fine — high quality
  9. ground — crushed
  10. march — music
  11. ground — a position
  12. field — a subject
  13. field — for sport
  14. march — the month
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. field — farmland
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. mate — to breed
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. ground — the earth
  22. fall — to drop
  23. fall — the season
  24. fall — to drop

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