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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. pop — music
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. pop — soda
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. rush — hurry
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. pop — to visit
  13. date — the fruit
  14. spring — of water
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bat — the animal
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. spring — a coil
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. spring — the season
  22. fork — in a road
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. fan — to cool the air

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