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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. march — the month
  3. march — music
  4. swing — to play on
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. march — the month
  7. cold — an illness
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. pitch — completely
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. lie — to recline
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. swing — in golf
  15. swing — music
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. chair — a leader
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. saw — the tool
  22. saw — the tool
  23. cold — not warm
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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