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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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. The tickets are free of ________________.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  16. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  17. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. cue — a hint
  3. kid — to tease
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. mine — for digging
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. wind — moving air
  9. charge — electricity
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. kid — child
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — a video
  15. cue — a signal
  16. charge — in control
  17. cue — for pool
  18. wind — moving air
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. chair — a leader
  22. perch — the fish
  23. clip — to cut
  24. mine — an explosive

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