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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. rest — what's left
  3. race — humankind
  4. field — a subject
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. object — to protest
  7. content — happy
  8. chair — a leader
  9. object — a thing
  10. rest — a break
  11. rest — what's left
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. race — the arms race
  15. field — for sport
  16. content — the amount
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. bark — to shout
  19. object — an aim
  20. bat — the animal
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. field — farmland
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. race — a contest

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