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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. race — a contest
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. drill — a practice
  5. fall — to drop
  6. drill — army training
  7. race — the arms race
  8. race — humankind
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. drill — the tool
  12. band — a ring
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. clip — for paper
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. fall — the season
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. wake — a trail
  19. clip — to cut
  20. fall — to drop
  21. clip — a video
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. band — a music group

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