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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. capital — a city
  4. chair — a leader
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. present — a gift
  7. wind — moving air
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. present — the time now
  10. fall — to drop
  11. wind — moving air
  12. fall — the season
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. bear — the animal
  17. present — there
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. capital — money
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. fall — to drop
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. pitch — completely
  24. bear — the animal

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