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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. land — to come down
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. drill — a practice
  5. chair — a leader
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. tube — the underground
  8. march — the month
  9. lash — to lash out
  10. land — ground
  11. march — music
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. deal — to handle
  15. march — the month
  16. drill — army training
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. tear — from crying
  19. drill — the tool
  20. land — a country
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. tube — a container
  23. tear — to rip
  24. tear — from crying

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