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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.

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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. spring — of water
  3. tube — a container
  4. march — the month
  5. rash — hasty
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. spring — the season
  8. sharp — clever
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. spring — a coil
  12. chair — a leader
  13. march — music
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. kick — in football
  17. bat — the animal
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. tube — the underground
  20. march — the month
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. rash — a series

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