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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 put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. last — finally
  3. bat — the animal
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. face — to point toward
  7. hand — help
  8. face — to confront
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. face — part of the head
  12. bass — low music
  13. spell — magic
  14. spell — letters
  15. last — to go on
  16. chair — a leader
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. last — final
  19. spell — a short time
  20. hand — in cards
  21. wake — a trail
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. bass — the fish
  24. bat — for baseball

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