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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. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. wind — moving air
  4. content — happy
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. date — the fruit
  9. chair — a leader
  10. wind — moving air
  11. game — wild animals
  12. content — the amount
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. game — a match
  16. rest — a break
  17. row — to paddle
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. row — a line
  23. rest — what's left
  24. coach — a trainer

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