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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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. safe — out of danger
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. tube — the underground
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. mine — for digging
  7. squash — to crush
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. pass — a permit
  10. chair — a leader
  11. squash — the sport
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. cold — an illness
  15. row — a line
  16. cold — not warm
  17. safe — a strongbox
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. safe — out of danger
  21. row — to paddle
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. tube — a container
  24. pass — to spend time

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