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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. kid — child
  3. spring — the season
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. land — to come down
  7. face — to point toward
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. land — a country
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wound — an injury
  15. chair — a leader
  16. face — part of the head
  17. saw — the tool
  18. spring — of water
  19. saw — the tool
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. kid — to tease
  22. face — to confront
  23. land — ground
  24. spring — a coil

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