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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  17. What do you think of the new ________________?
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. content — the amount
  3. cabinet — a cupboard
  4. march — the month
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. march — the month
  7. content — happy
  8. chest — of your body
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. chest — a box
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. mark — a grade
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. march — music
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. mark — a trace
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. bark — to shout
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. bark — of a tree

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