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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. fall — to drop
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. fall — to drop
  6. roll — a list
  7. chair — a leader
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. kick — in football
  10. chest — of your body
  11. land — ground
  12. fall — the season
  13. roll — a cake
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. land — a country
  18. sharp — clever
  19. chest — of your body
  20. capital — a city
  21. capital — money
  22. chest — a box
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. chair — to sit on

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