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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. chair — a leader
  3. race — humankind
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. spring — the season
  7. race — a contest
  8. hand — in cards
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. game — a match
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. game — wild animals
  14. hand — help
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. spring — a coil
  17. rash — a series
  18. pit — a hole
  19. rash — hasty
  20. race — the arms race
  21. bark — to shout
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. pit — in a race
  24. chair — to sit on

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