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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  5. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. land — ground
  4. cabinet — a cupboard
  5. foot — part of the body
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. chair — a leader
  9. hand — in cards
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — not warm
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. branch — a division
  14. mark — a grade
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. mark — a trace
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. foot — a measure
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. land — to come down
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. foot — the bottom
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. land — a country

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