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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. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a signal
  2. mine — for digging
  3. net — for catching
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. staff — a stick
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. staff — employees
  8. tear — from crying
  9. tear — to rip
  10. staff — employees
  11. file — a line of people
  12. chair — a leader
  13. net — in sport
  14. tear — from crying
  15. file — a document
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. net — after costs
  18. cue — for pool
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. cue — a hint
  21. wound — an injury
  22. file — a tool
  23. wound — an injury
  24. chair — to sit on

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