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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. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The tickets are free of ________________.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. charge — electricity
  3. clip — for paper
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. chest — of your body
  6. spring — the season
  7. fall — to drop
  8. mark — a trace
  9. clip — to cut
  10. spring — of water
  11. mark — to pay attention
  12. chair — a leader
  13. clip — a video
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. chest — a box
  16. mark — a grade
  17. chest — of your body
  18. charge — a price
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. spring — a coil
  21. fall — the season
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. charge — in control
  24. pitcher — a jug

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