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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. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. cold — an illness
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. track — a song
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. toast — a drink to someone
  8. kid — child
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. current — happening now
  12. current — of water
  13. track — a path
  14. current — electric
  15. chair — a leader
  16. key — the most important part
  17. key — for a lock
  18. kid — to tease
  19. bass — the fish
  20. key — in music
  21. track — to keep track
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. bass — low music
  24. toast — the most admired

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