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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. content — happy
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. fall — the season
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. snap — to click
  10. bass — the fish
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. bass — low music
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. fall — to drop
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. mine — for digging
  18. branch — a division
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. content — the amount
  23. kick — in football
  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