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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 116 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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. chair — a leader
  3. bore — gave birth
  4. bat — the animal
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. spell — letters
  8. shower — to wash
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. wake — a trail
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. spell — magic
  14. bore — to drill
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. prune — to trim
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. spell — a short time
  19. capital — money
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. prune — to trim
  22. shower — rain
  23. capital — a city
  24. bore — to tire

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