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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  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. march — the month
  3. march — music
  4. cell — a phone
  5. rock — a stone
  6. march — the month
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. mine — for digging
  9. rush — hurry
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. chair — a leader
  12. cell — in biology
  13. perch — the fish
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. rock — music
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. chair — a professorship
  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