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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. content — happy
  3. spring — the season
  4. land — a country
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. drill — the tool
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. season — of the year
  9. drill — army training
  10. drill — a practice
  11. content — the amount
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. dip — to sink
  16. spring — a coil
  17. last — final
  18. land — ground
  19. season — in sport
  20. spring — of water
  21. last — to go on
  22. dip — to dunk
  23. land — to come down
  24. last — finally

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