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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Where did you ________________ them?
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. swing — music
  3. capital — a city
  4. swing — in golf
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. mug — a cup
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. mug — to rob
  13. swing — to play on
  14. field — for sport
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. capital — money
  17. bass — the fish
  18. bass — low music
  19. mug — a face
  20. cold — an illness
  21. field — farmland
  22. chair — a leader
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. field — a subject

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