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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 116 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'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. deal — an agreement
  5. deal — to handle
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. perch — the fish
  8. last — final
  9. ground — crushed
  10. ground — the earth
  11. press — to push
  12. last — finally
  13. land — to come down
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. capital — money
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. capital — a city
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. land — a country
  20. chair — a leader
  21. press — newspapers
  22. last — to go on
  23. ground — a position
  24. press — a publisher

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