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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  5. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  6. My mare is ________________ in color.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. cold — an illness
  3. clip — for paper
  4. bay — to keep at bay
  5. bay — a part of the sea
  6. bay — a horse colour
  7. clip — a video
  8. rest — what's left
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. spring — the season
  11. chair — a leader
  12. rest — what's left
  13. clip — to cut
  14. rest — a break
  15. court — for sport
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. court — of law
  18. rash — a series
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. spring — a coil
  21. rash — hasty
  22. cold — not warm
  23. spring — of water
  24. court — of a king

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