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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. clip — for paper
  3. land — ground
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. last — to go on
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. dip — to sink
  8. ground — a position
  9. last — finally
  10. chair — a leader
  11. row — a line
  12. cell — in biology
  13. last — final
  14. row — to paddle
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. land — to come down
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. ground — the earth
  19. land — a country
  20. clip — to cut
  21. clip — a video
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. cell — a phone

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