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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 120 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 put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. march — the month
  3. field — a subject
  4. cell — a phone
  5. field — for sport
  6. pound — a weight
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. field — farmland
  10. march — music
  11. lean — thin
  12. cell — in biology
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. march — the month
  16. chair — a leader
  17. mine — for digging
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. lean — to bend
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. fan — a supporter

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