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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. I assure you, everything's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. season — of the year
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. squash — to crush
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. cell — in biology
  7. hand — help
  8. wind — moving air
  9. fine — a penalty
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. squash — the sport
  12. hand — in cards
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. season — in sport
  15. fine — high quality
  16. wind — moving air
  17. chair — a leader
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. wound — an injury
  20. cell — a phone
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. fine — all right

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