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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. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — a practice
  2. chair — a leader
  3. file — a document
  4. chest — of your body
  5. tube — the underground
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. bass — low music
  8. drill — the tool
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. cold — an illness
  12. rule — a law
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. bass — the fish
  15. rule — government
  16. chest — a box
  17. drill — army training
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — not warm
  20. file — a line of people
  21. chest — of your body
  22. file — a tool
  23. tube — a container
  24. bass — the instrument

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