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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. board — to get on
  3. chair — a leader
  4. spring — the season
  5. cold — not warm
  6. deal — to handle
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. deal — an agreement
  10. spell — letters
  11. cold — an illness
  12. deal — a big deal
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. spring — a coil
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. spell — a short time
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. spring — of water
  21. board — a committee
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. bat — the animal

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