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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. perch — the fish
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. fall — to drop
  6. tear — to rip
  7. fall — to drop
  8. ground — a position
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. ground — crushed
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. fall — the season
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. present — a gift
  15. present — there
  16. ground — the earth
  17. tear — from crying
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. present — the time now
  20. branch — a division
  21. pitch — completely
  22. tear — from crying
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. perch — for a bird

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