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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. march — the month
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. march — the month
  6. rule — government
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. chair — a leader
  9. squash — to crush
  10. squash — the sport
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. stock — shares
  14. march — music
  15. rule — a law
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. wind — moving air
  20. stock — goods
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. wind — moving air
  23. bat — the animal
  24. bat — for baseball

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