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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  11. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. spring — of water
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. spring — the season
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. drill — the tool
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. kid — child
  9. drill — army training
  10. cue — a hint
  11. cue — a signal
  12. spring — a coil
  13. season — of the year
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. cue — for pool
  17. squash — the sport
  18. season — in sport
  19. squash — to crush
  20. mine — for digging
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. drill — a practice
  23. chair — a leader
  24. kid — to tease

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