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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. land — a country
  3. rest — a break
  4. capital — money
  5. net — after costs
  6. chair — a leader
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. court — of law
  9. court — of a king
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. capital — a city
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. land — ground
  15. court — for sport
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. land — to come down
  19. rest — what's left
  20. rest — what's left
  21. net — in sport
  22. sharp — clever
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. net — for catching

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