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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. cap — of ice
  4. ground — a position
  5. cap — a hat
  6. ground — crushed
  7. kid — to tease
  8. clip — a video
  9. pit — a hole
  10. sharp — clever
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. pit — in a race
  13. ground — the earth
  14. cell — in biology
  15. cell — a phone
  16. clip — to cut
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. cap — a lid
  21. kid — child
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. clip — for paper

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