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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. kid — to tease
  4. chair — a leader
  5. prune — to trim
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. band — a ring
  9. kid — child
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. cold — an illness
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. branch — a division
  18. prune — to trim
  19. band — a music group
  20. hide — animal skin
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. branch — of a bank

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