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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. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. field — farmland
  4. club — a group
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. club — for golf
  7. race — a contest
  8. clip — for paper
  9. deal — to handle
  10. face — to point toward
  11. clip — to cut
  12. deal — a big deal
  13. face — to confront
  14. race — humankind
  15. chair — a leader
  16. field — for sport
  17. clip — a video
  18. field — a subject
  19. club — for dancing
  20. race — the arms race
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. face — part of the head
  23. date — the fruit
  24. date — on the calendar

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