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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. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. The tickets are free of ________________.
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — electricity
  2. march — the month
  3. hand — in cards
  4. object — to protest
  5. march — music
  6. scale — size or range
  7. cold — an illness
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. charge — in control
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. chair — a leader
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. object — an aim
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. charge — a price
  17. object — a thing
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. mine — for digging
  20. hand — help
  21. march — the month
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. cold — not warm
  24. scale — in music

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