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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. pop — soda
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. wind — moving air
  7. cell — a phone
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. cell — in biology
  10. chair — a leader
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. row — a line
  13. rash — hasty
  14. pop — music
  15. row — to paddle
  16. pop — to visit
  17. spring — the season
  18. wind — moving air
  19. spring — a coil
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. spring — of water
  23. rash — a series
  24. row — a quarrel

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