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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. press — a publisher
  7. cold — an illness
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. press — newspapers
  10. season — in sport
  11. season — of the year
  12. mouse — for a computer
  13. cold — not warm
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. press — to push
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. bat — the animal
  24. lash — a whip stroke

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