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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 116 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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. drill — the tool
  4. staff — a stick
  5. clip — a video
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. staff — employees
  8. clip — for paper
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. hand — in cards
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. court — of a king
  13. clip — to cut
  14. march — the month
  15. court — for sport
  16. drill — a practice
  17. drill — army training
  18. march — music
  19. court — of law
  20. chair — a leader
  21. march — the month
  22. staff — employees
  23. sharp — clever
  24. hand — help

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