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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. chair — a leader
  3. squash — to crush
  4. wave — of the sea
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. roll — a cake
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. scale — in music
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. mine — for digging
  11. wound — an injury
  12. scale — size or range
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. squash — the sport
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. roll — a list
  19. wound — an injury
  20. kid — to tease
  21. kid — child
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. mine — belonging to me

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