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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. present — a gift
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. object — to protest
  5. chair — a leader
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. spring — a coil
  8. object — an aim
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. snap — to click
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. cold — not warm
  14. rash — a series
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. object — a thing
  18. cold — an illness
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. rash — hasty
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. spring — the season
  23. present — the time now
  24. spring — of water

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