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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The tickets are free of ________________.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — a box
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. hand — help
  7. hand — in cards
  8. charge — electricity
  9. chair — a leader
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. cold — an illness
  12. dip — to sink
  13. charge — in control
  14. current — happening now
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. chest — of your body
  18. charge — a price
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. current — of water
  22. hide — animal skin
  23. current — electric
  24. hide — to keep secret

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