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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. Where did you ________________ them?
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — to rob
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. current — electric
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. chest — a box
  7. chest — of your body
  8. chair — a leader
  9. cold — not warm
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. row — to paddle
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. chest — of your body
  16. scale — size or range
  17. mug — a cup
  18. row — a line
  19. current — happening now
  20. current — of water
  21. scale — in music
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. mug — a face
  24. mine — for digging

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