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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. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. stock — goods
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. prune — to trim
  5. cell — a phone
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. spring — the season
  11. pass — a permit
  12. stock — shares
  13. cell — in biology
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. hand — in cards
  16. prune — to trim
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. pass — to spend time
  19. spring — a coil
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. hand — help
  22. spring — of water
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. coach — a trainer

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