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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. present — a gift
  3. hand — in cards
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. ground — crushed
  6. ground — the earth
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. clip — for paper
  10. ground — a position
  11. present — the time now
  12. chest — a box
  13. chest — of your body
  14. chair — a leader
  15. hand — help
  16. mouse — for a computer
  17. prune — to trim
  18. chest — of your body
  19. clip — to cut
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. prune — to trim
  22. present — there
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. clip — a video

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