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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. Where did you ________________ them?
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — to rob
  2. wind — moving air
  3. band — a music group
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. band — a ring
  6. last — final
  7. stem — to come from
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. chair — a leader
  10. face — part of the head
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. bore — to tire
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. face — to confront
  15. mug — a cup
  16. bore — to drill
  17. last — to go on
  18. face — to point toward
  19. last — finally
  20. bore — gave birth
  21. wind — moving air
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. mug — a face
  24. band — a rubber band

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