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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. The ________________ change colour in autumn.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. staff — employees
  4. staff — employees
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. rule — a law
  8. staff — a stick
  9. cue — a hint
  10. file — a tool
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. cold — an illness
  13. file — a line of people
  14. file — a document
  15. cue — a signal
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cue — for pool
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. rule — government
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. leaves — of a tree

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