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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 seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. rule — a law
  4. file — a tool
  5. court — of law
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. spring — a coil
  8. spring — the season
  9. wake — a trail
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. file — a document
  12. spring — of water
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. tear — from crying
  15. tear — from crying
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. rule — government
  18. court — for sport
  19. rash — a series
  20. court — of a king
  21. tear — to rip
  22. chair — a leader
  23. rash — hasty
  24. file — a line of people

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