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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. squash — the sport
  4. spring — of water
  5. race — the arms race
  6. net — after costs
  7. spring — the season
  8. net — for catching
  9. field — a subject
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. bat — the animal
  12. race — humankind
  13. net — in sport
  14. race — a contest
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. spring — a coil
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. squash — to crush
  22. field — for sport
  23. field — farmland
  24. chair — a leader

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