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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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. hand — in cards
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. drill — the tool
  6. drill — a practice
  7. fall — to drop
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. fall — the season
  10. clip — a video
  11. spring — the season
  12. spring — a coil
  13. clip — for paper
  14. fall — to drop
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. plane — a tool
  17. drill — army training
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. hand — help
  21. clip — to cut
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. chair — a leader
  24. chair — a professorship

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