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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. rest — what's left
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. rock — to move gently
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. degree — from a university
  10. rock — music
  11. clip — a video
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. degree — temperature
  14. rest — a break
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. clip — to cut
  18. degree — an amount
  19. rock — a stone
  20. clip — for paper
  21. chair — a leader
  22. rest — what's left
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. wake — a trail

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