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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. I can't ________________ this cold.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — to bear
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. net — in sport
  4. cap — a lid
  5. net — for catching
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. net — after costs
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cap — of ice
  11. pop — soda
  12. chair — a leader
  13. cold — not warm
  14. drill — the tool
  15. stand — for spectators
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cap — a hat
  19. pop — music
  20. pop — to visit
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. bark — to shout
  23. drill — army training
  24. drill — a practice

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