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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. cue — a hint
  3. land — to come down
  4. cue — a signal
  5. fall — to drop
  6. game — wild animals
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. fall — the season
  9. root — of a word
  10. fall — to drop
  11. board — a committee
  12. board — to get on
  13. chair — a leader
  14. cold — not warm
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. game — a match
  17. root — the cause
  18. root — of a plant
  19. land — ground
  20. cold — an illness
  21. land — a country
  22. cue — for pool
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. game — a kind of play

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