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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. pop — to visit
  3. chair — a leader
  4. spell — magic
  5. spell — a short time
  6. cell — a phone
  7. spell — letters
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. cell — in biology
  10. content — the amount
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. field — farmland
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. land — to come down
  16. field — a subject
  17. content — happy
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. land — a country
  20. field — for sport
  21. pop — soda
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. land — ground
  24. pop — music

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