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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 116 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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. The tickets are free of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. squash — the sport
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. craft — a skill
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. capital — a city
  7. charge — electricity
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. band — a music group
  10. field — a subject
  11. capital — money
  12. chair — a leader
  13. squash — to crush
  14. field — farmland
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. charge — in control
  19. craft — boats
  20. field — for sport
  21. craft — a handicraft
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. charge — a price

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