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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 120 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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. tear — from crying
  3. rock — music
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. clip — to cut
  7. tear — from crying
  8. current — electric
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. land — ground
  11. spell — letters
  12. spell — magic
  13. current — happening now
  14. rock — a stone
  15. land — to come down
  16. game — a match
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. clip — a video
  19. spell — a short time
  20. tear — to rip
  21. land — a country
  22. current — of water
  23. game — wild animals
  24. clip — for paper

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