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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 cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. tear — from crying
  3. tear — from crying
  4. court — for sport
  5. present — the time now
  6. present — a gift
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. present — there
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. row — a line
  12. row — to paddle
  13. court — of law
  14. file — a tool
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. chair — a leader
  18. file — a line of people
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. sharp — clever
  21. file — a document
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. court — of a king
  24. tear — to rip

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