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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 120 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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  7. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. clip — to cut
  3. staff — employees
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. ruler — a monarch
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. staff — a stick
  10. court — of law
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. land — a country
  13. wake — a trail
  14. court — for sport
  15. clip — for paper
  16. land — to come down
  17. court — of a king
  18. land — ground
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. snap — to click
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. clip — a video
  23. staff — employees
  24. chair — to sit on

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