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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. row — a line
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. band — a ring
  8. band — a music group
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. march — the month
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. chair — a leader
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. cell — a phone
  16. row — to paddle
  17. march — music
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. sharp — clever
  20. march — the month
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. cell — in biology
  24. bat — the animal

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