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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. mark — a trace
  3. hand — help
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. sharp — clever
  7. row — to paddle
  8. rule — government
  9. squash — to crush
  10. land — ground
  11. squash — the sport
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. chair — a leader
  15. hand — in cards
  16. row — a line
  17. rule — a law
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. land — to come down
  22. mark — a grade
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. land — a country

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