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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. land — to come down
  4. tube — a container
  5. land — a country
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. face — part of the head
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. rash — hasty
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. face — to point toward
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. face — to confront
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. perch — the fish
  19. rash — a series
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. tube — the underground
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. land — ground
  24. perch — for a bird

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