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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. ________________ games are popular in Germany.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. cold — an illness
  3. board — a committee
  4. mate — to breed
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. mate — a friend
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. chair — a leader
  10. wax — to grow
  11. mate — a partner
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. scale — size or range
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. snap — to click
  17. cold — not warm
  18. scale — in music
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. board — to get on
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. board — a flat piece

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