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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 116 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. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. craft — a skill
  6. row — to paddle
  7. chair — a leader
  8. row — a line
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. ground — crushed
  11. ground — a position
  12. craft — boats
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — to cut
  15. pitch — completely
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. deal — to handle
  18. ground — the earth
  19. clip — a video
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. fork — in a road
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. deal — a big deal

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