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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. race — humankind
  4. file — a line of people
  5. spell — letters
  6. track — a song
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. branch — a division
  9. last — finally
  10. race — the arms race
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. last — final
  13. rush — hurry
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. last — to go on
  17. spell — a short time
  18. spell — magic
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. track — to keep track
  21. file — a document
  22. track — a path
  23. race — a contest
  24. file — a tool

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