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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. craft — a handicraft
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. lean — to bend
  5. wake — a trail
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. sharp — clever
  9. capital — a city
  10. chair — a leader
  11. craft — boats
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. hand — in cards
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. hand — help
  18. capital — money
  19. lean — thin
  20. craft — a skill
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. bat — the animal
  24. sharp — exactly

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