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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. shower — to wash
  4. cell — in biology
  5. shower — rain
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. cold — an illness
  8. fork — in a road
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. stick — to attach or keep to
  13. cell — a phone
  14. spring — the season
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. spring — of water
  20. cold — not warm
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. spring — a coil

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