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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. When will it ________________ you to start?
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  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. squash — the vegetable
  2. hand — help
  3. chair — a leader
  4. shower — to wash
  5. shower — rain
  6. race — the arms race
  7. suit — clothes
  8. content — happy
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. field — for sport
  12. race — a contest
  13. suit — in cards
  14. race — humankind
  15. squash — to crush
  16. suit — to fit
  17. content — the amount
  18. squash — the sport
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. hand — in cards
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. field — a subject
  23. field — farmland
  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