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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. fall — the season
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. fall — to drop
  6. fall — to drop
  7. rash — hasty
  8. chair — a leader
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. cell — in biology
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. land — to come down
  13. capital — a city
  14. land — a country
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. capital — money
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. rash — a series
  22. land — ground
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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