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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. chair — a leader
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. capital — money
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. root — of a word
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. mine — for digging
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. root — of a plant
  12. cold — an illness
  13. court — of law
  14. cold — not warm
  15. hand — in cards
  16. court — for sport
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. court — of a king
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. hand — help
  22. capital — a city
  23. root — the cause
  24. chair — to sit on

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