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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 put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. That was ________________ to happen.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. bound — obliged
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. mine — for digging
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. wound — an injury
  8. season — in sport
  9. bound — certain
  10. wound — an injury
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. rash — a series
  13. bound — tied together
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. bat — the animal
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. rash — hasty
  18. swing — to play on
  19. chair — a leader
  20. season — of the year
  21. swing — music
  22. swing — in golf
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. mine — belonging to me

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