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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  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. band — a ring
  2. object — to protest
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. season — in sport
  5. file — a line of people
  6. file — a document
  7. object — an aim
  8. band — a music group
  9. season — of the year
  10. mine — for digging
  11. chair — a leader
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. file — a tool
  14. object — a thing
  15. game — wild animals
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. game — a match
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. row — a line
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. row — to paddle
  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