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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. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. snap — to click
  5. rest — what's left
  6. rest — what's left
  7. race — humankind
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. branch — a division
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. shower — rain
  15. rest — a break
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. spring — of water
  18. shower — to wash
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. race — the arms race
  21. spring — a coil
  22. race — a contest
  23. spring — the season
  24. branch — 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