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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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. squash — to crush
  3. rash — a series
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. saw — the tool
  7. band — a music group
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. squash — the sport
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. chair — a leader
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pass — a permit
  18. rash — hasty
  19. pass — to spend time
  20. band — a ring
  21. cold — not warm
  22. saw — the tool
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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