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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. fall — the season
  4. saw — the tool
  5. chair — a leader
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. rash — hasty
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. cold — an illness
  15. fall — to drop
  16. mark — a trace
  17. mark — a grade
  18. saw — the tool
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. fall — to drop
  21. rash — a series
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — the Cold War

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