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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. That was ________________ to happen.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. cold — not warm
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. spell — letters
  6. wake — a trail
  7. march — the month
  8. cold — an illness
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. bound — tied together
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. bound — certain
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. land — a country
  16. march — the month
  17. bound — obliged
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. march — music
  20. spell — a short time
  21. chair — a leader
  22. land — ground
  23. spell — magic
  24. land — to come down

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