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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. foot — a measure
  3. squash — to crush
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. squash — the sport
  6. rush — hurry
  7. land — to come down
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. land — ground
  10. foot — the bottom
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. spring — a coil
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. spring — of water
  19. chair — a leader
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. bat — the animal
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. spring — the season
  24. land — a country

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