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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 120 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. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. track — a song
  4. wake — a trail
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. track — a path
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. bat — the animal
  9. track — to keep track
  10. chair — a leader
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. cap — a lid
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. capital — money
  19. capital — a city
  20. rush — hurry
  21. cap — of ice
  22. cap — a hat
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. bat — for baseball

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