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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 116 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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. wind — moving air
  6. mine — for digging
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. field — farmland
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. bore — to tire
  11. field — for sport
  12. shower — rain
  13. bore — to drill
  14. wind — moving air
  15. rule — a law
  16. bore — gave birth
  17. rule — government
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. shower — to wash
  24. field — a subject

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