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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 120 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. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. can — to be able to
  5. staff — employees
  6. row — a line
  7. can — a tin
  8. chair — a leader
  9. can — a tin
  10. shower — to wash
  11. hand — help
  12. row — to paddle
  13. hand — in cards
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. shower — rain
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. staff — employees
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. lash — to lash out
  24. chair — a professorship

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