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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. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a signal
  2. shower — rain
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. cue — a hint
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. chair — a leader
  7. rush — hurry
  8. clip — to cut
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. capital — a city
  12. clip — a video
  13. net — for catching
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. cue — for pool
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. net — in sport
  20. net — after costs
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. shower — to wash
  23. clip — for paper
  24. capital — money

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