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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. race — a contest
  3. chair — a leader
  4. capital — money
  5. chest — a box
  6. leaves — to go away
  7. sharp — clever
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. bass — low music
  10. field — a subject
  11. chest — of your body
  12. race — humankind
  13. capital — a city
  14. bass — the fish
  15. chest — of your body
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. field — farmland
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. race — the arms race

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