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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 116 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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. shower — to wash
  3. shower — rain
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. march — the month
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. fork — in a road
  8. prune — to trim
  9. prune — to trim
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. ground — crushed
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. land — to come down
  14. ground — the earth
  15. land — a country
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. land — ground
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. march — the month
  20. march — music
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. ground — a position
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. fork — a garden tool

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