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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. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. bat — the animal
  4. staff — a stick
  5. row — a line
  6. staff — employees
  7. chair — a leader
  8. capital — money
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. rest — what's left
  13. rest — a break
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. row — to paddle
  16. staff — employees
  17. rest — what's left
  18. capital — a city
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. hand — help
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. deal — to handle
  24. hand — in cards

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