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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 120 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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. When was this ________________ built?
  16. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. I can't ________________ this cold.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. chair — a leader
  3. perch — the fish
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. content — happy
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. rash — hasty
  9. content — the amount
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. stand — for spectators
  12. bat — the animal
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. temple — side of the head
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. stand — to bear
  20. rash — a series
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. mine — for digging
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. bat — in an idiom

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