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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. lean — to bend
  3. chair — a leader
  4. race — humankind
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. rule — a law
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. court — of a king
  10. capital — a city
  11. rule — government
  12. land — a country
  13. land — to come down
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. court — for sport
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. capital — money
  20. race — a contest
  21. land — ground
  22. lean — thin
  23. court — of law
  24. race — the arms race

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