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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. The tickets are free of ________________.
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. fork — in a road
  5. chair — a leader
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. race — a contest
  8. row — a line
  9. race — humankind
  10. row — to paddle
  11. charge — a price
  12. charge — electricity
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. saw — the tool
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. charge — in control
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. race — the arms race
  21. bat — the animal
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. bat — for baseball

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