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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. last — final
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. file — a document
  5. wound — an injury
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. roll — a cake
  9. last — to go on
  10. roll — a list
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. press — newspapers
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. wound — an injury
  17. file — a tool
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. press — to push
  20. file — a line of people
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. press — a publisher
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. last — finally

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