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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. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. The tickets are free of ________________.
  5. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. charge — electricity
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. charge — a price
  5. charge — in control
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. clip — a video
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. hand — in cards
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. rash — a series
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. clip — to cut
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. clip — for paper
  21. bat — the animal
  22. chair — a leader
  23. rash — hasty
  24. hand — help

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