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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  10. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. chip — to eat
  3. toast — the most admired
  4. rock — music
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. cold — not warm
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. toast — a drink to someone
  10. toast — bread
  11. file — a tool
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. rock — a stone
  14. perch — the fish
  15. chip — for betting
  16. file — a line of people
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. cold — an illness
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. file — a document
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. rock — to move gently
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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