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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. bark — to shout
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. object — to protest
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cold — an illness
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. content — the amount
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. content — happy
  18. wind — moving air
  19. chair — a leader
  20. object — an aim
  21. object — a thing
  22. wind — moving air
  23. bass — low music
  24. bass — the fish

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