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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. lie — to recline
  3. chair — a leader
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. cold — not warm
  7. spring — a coil
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. spring — the season
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. pit — a hole
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. sharp — clever
  17. file — a document
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. file — a line of people
  20. pit — a fruit stone
  21. spring — of water
  22. file — a tool
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. pit — in a 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