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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 124 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. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. chest — a box
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. row — a line
  6. chair — a leader
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. chest — of your body
  9. cold — not warm
  10. fork — in a road
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. bound — obliged
  13. row — to paddle
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. last — to go on
  16. last — finally
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. bat — the animal
  20. last — final
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. bound — tied together
  23. chest — of your body
  24. cold — an illness

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